Trial and Error
by GeorgeWeasleyIsMYObsession
Summary: One thing was for certain when you were the sister of Harry Potter: you were always in some type of danger. And, of course, it was only worse when your best friend couldn't help but enjoy the thrill of it all. Now in her 3rd year at Hogwarts, Nessa has to juggle keeping her brother and best friend as safe as possible, but also falling for George Weasley. Could life get any worse?
1. Prologue

**Now I shouldn't do this because I already have an ongoing story, but I just can't resist the temptation of writing a Weasley Twin story. It's just too difficult, but I haven't forgotten my other story, promise.**

**Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this story and give me your feedback!**

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**Prologue**

James Potter paced the hardwood floor in the living room in apprehension, unsure of what to do with himself at that very moment. He felt like he should have been in their bedroom where his wife was giving birth, but when he'd attempted to follow her she'd thrown a vase at him and told him to stay put. Apparently, this was his entire fault, despite her being more than willing. The woman was crazy, he swore.

Being down here, however, only made his nerves shoot up a whole ten notches. He could hear his heart beating rapidly in his ears and his palms were sweating profusely. He wished they'd have at least put a Silencing Charm on the bedroom, for hearing his wife's screams was beginning to rip his heart into pieces and made him pace even faster.

"You're going to wear a whole in the floor if you don't stop, mate," a familiar voice said from behind him.

He whirled around and sighed in relief at seeing Sirius leaning against the door that led into their living room, a big grin on his face and excitement in his eyes as he regarded his friend. James had immediately floo-called Sirius when he had found out that Lily had gone into labor and begged him to come over before he lost his mind.

"I think I've gone mad, mate," he muttered, beginning to pace again when another scream echoed through the house.

Sirius chuckled as he watched his friend run a hand through his hair, a sure sign that he was nervous. Walking over, he clasped a strong hand on his friend's shoulder and led him over to the couch as they both took a seat.

"That's not news to me, mate." He said, grinning and trying to lighten the mood. "You've never been right in the head, in my opinion."

James ignored him completely and rested his elbows on his knees and buried his head in his hands. Sirius sighed and clapped him on the back in affection.

"Don't worry, Prongs, our flower's a fighter. She'll be alright," he said, comfortingly. "Besides, just think about what it will feel like to finally be a dad, yeah?"

"Bloody nerve racking so far," James muttered into his hands. "What if I can't do it? What if I mess everything up?"

"You won't." Sirius said. "Come on, James, we both know you'll love that baby with everything you've got. That's better than nothing, yeah?"

"Yeah, but what if it's not enough?"

Sirius suddenly had a strong urge to beat him upside the head in annoyance, but rolled his eyes instead.

"For the love of Merlin, James, all the kid's going to do for the next year is eat, sleep, and poop." Sirius said, grinning cheekily at the look James threw him. "Takes after his dad, I suppose, and you're alright with just love, aren't you?"

"Bite me, Sirius," James said, unable to fight the grin spreading across his face at the comfort Sirius was bringing despite his idiocy.

"No thanks mate." Sirius said, leaning back into the couch and letting his arms rest on the back of it. "I'm sure Lily does enough of that as it is,"

"You're sick, Sirius," James said, though he laughed good-naturedly.

Sirius only grinned at him in response and shrugged his shoulders, as though to say it were inevitable.

They sat in silence for the next few minutes, James feeling the nervousness creeping back up on him now that he had no one to distract him from his wife's screams. He reluctantly admitted that Sirius's presence seemed to calm his nerves slightly, but did nothing to dissipate them completely, which is what he had been hoping for.

When his wife's screams eventually paused, his head shot out of his arms and he listened intently for any noise coming from the upstairs bedroom. He heard nothing.

Panic quickly began to sink in when the minutes passed without a sound and he began to start pacing again, mumbling frantically under his breath and running his hands through his hair a hundred times a minute as he imagined all the scenarios in which there would be no noise coming from upstairs.

What if the baby didn't make it? What if Lily didn't make it? What if she'd gotten out of bed and ran off into the night with the baby? Ok, so maybe not that last one. That was probably a bit of an overreaction on his part, but it could just as easily be possible, couldn't it?

The midwife was suddenly standing at the bottom of the staircase, smiling gently at him and Sirius stood from the couch to stand next to him, a grin spreading across his features.

"Is Lily alright? What's going on?" James asked, frantically, wiping his glasses on his shirt and trying to busy himself so he didn't come off as mad.

"You can go and see her now, Mr. Potter," was the only response he got out of her.

He took the steps two at a time, his heart pounding the closer he got to the top. He distinctly heard the midwife laughing and Sirius yelling something about flooing Remus and Peter, but he didn't pay either of them any mind.

He stopped in the doorway to the room he shared with his wife and inhaled sharply at seeing a perfectly healthy Lily resting on the bed as she cooed at a pink bundle in her arms. Feeling like a complete pansy when his heart stuttered slightly, he knocked softly on the door to announce his presence. Lily looked up and smiled brilliantly at him, a smile he found completely contagious as he grinned back.

"Well don't just stand there," she said in a tone that reminded him of her prefect days. "Come look at your daughter."

He was by her side in an instant, sitting next to her gently and looking over her shoulder at the sleeping baby in her arms. She looked a bit strange in his opinion, all pink and wrinkly, but beautiful all the same. She was beautiful and his and he didn't think his grin could've possibly grown wider.

Stroking a finger down her cheek, feeling the softness under his finger, he turned to his wife and asked, "What d'you suppose we name her, love?"

Lily smiled down at the baby before looking back up at her husband and smiling.

"Vanessa." She stated, matter-of-factly.

"Vanessa Lily Potter," he said, looking back down at the baby in his wife's arms and giving the little girl a kiss on the forehead. "Welcome to the world, sweetheart."

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**Okay, so that's the Prologue for my new story. I figured it would be so much easier to explain things if I put a Prologue since they had a girl as well as Harry. Anyways, feedback would be much appreciated and hopefully I can get at least one more chapter in before school starts tomorrow morning. No promises though.**

**R&R.**


	2. Chapter 1

**1. 13 years later…**

Vanessa Potter awoke to the sun shining through the curtains of her shared room with her brother, Harry. Groaning, she rolled over onto her stomach and tilted her head away from the window in order to escape the light. Closing her eyes, she tried to get back to sleep before her aunt Petunia came up and ordered her and Harry to cook the family breakfast.

Groaning when she realized that would be completely impossible since she was already awake, she removed herself quietly from the bed and walked carefully over a snoring Harry that had fallen off the bed the night before. She grinned, wondering if she should give him a rude wake-up call, but decided against it when she realized it was his birthday today.

Checking the alarm clock on the bedside table, she was happy to see that it was only seven in the morning and the likelihood of the Dursley's being up yet was slim. Grinning down at her snoring brother, she ran down the stairs, jumping over the squeaky step and landing in a crouch on the floor. She listened intently for any noises above and in the kitchen before she stood up and moved toward the kitchen, being careful not to make a sound just in case she had misheard anything. Popping her head around the corner and into the living room, she was satisfied that her uncle was not awake and, heart pounding in apprehension and fear of getting caught, she ran into the kitchen and opened the fridge to find the leftover cookies her aunt had prepared for Dudley the night before.

Grabbing two off the plate, she searched the kitchen drawer her aunt stored miscellaneous items in. She grabbed a candle and a match before carefully making her way back upstairs.

Her brother was still in the same position he had been when she'd last seen him and she smiled affectionately down at him as she placed the stuff on the bedside table and turned to shake him awake.

"Harry" she whispered, shaking him lightly. "Harry, wake up."

Harry groaned and rolled over, swatting her away.

"Go away, Nessa, I don't wanna get up," he said, grumbling into the floor.

"C'mon, Harry, it's time to get up."

He shook his head viciously and buried his head deeper into his arms, attempting to fall back to sleep.

"Harry, get up right now." She said sternly, a carefully laced threat in her tone. Honestly, how was she supposed to celebrate his birthday with him if he wouldn't get up?

Harry was not at all pleased with her as he grumbled and sat up, searching for his glasses and glaring at her in irritation.

"What do you want, Vanessa?" he snapped impatiently.

Nessa glared at him, her hands on her hips, but decided to let it go for the time being. She wasn't much of an early riser herself and didn't blame him for being crabby. Reaching for the items she had set on the table, she sat cross legged on the floor in front of him. Setting a cookie in front of him and then herself, she took the candle and stuck it in the middle of his before lighting it with a match.

"Happy Birthday, Harry," she whispered quietly, watching her brother's face split into a grin before he reached forward and pulled her into a hug.

She hugged back tightly, closing her eyes and breathing in the familiar scent of his shampoo. This was the first time in a long time that they had celebrated either of their birthdays together; the Dursleys were usually awake when they had wanted to years previous. The last time they had done this was two years ago on her birthday in the middle of the night. She knew that he had stayed up till all hours of the night. He always did like to wait until the clock struck midnight to wish himself a happy birthday, something that Nessa found incredibly saddening. He deserved so much better than what their uncle and aunt offered him here on Privet Drive.

He eventually let her go and looked back at the cookie in front of him as she moved to sit next to him and rested her head on his shoulder.

"What are you waiting for?" she murmured, smiling up at him. "Make a wish,"

Grabbing her hand and twining their fingers together, he leaned forward, blew out the candle, and said, "I wish we could leave this place."

Smiling sadly, she squeezed his hand gently and he grinned down at her before eating their cookies as they celebrated his birthday alone.

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The two Potter siblings had retreated downstairs after Harry's small, but loving, birthday celebration and began to start breakfast as they normally did before the Dursley's awoke. They didn't so much mind that they had to cook breakfast for the Dursley's as they did cleaning the house when their aunt didn't want to.

At least this way, they could sneak food before they all came down so that they wouldn't starve themselves. Usually they were left to split whatever was left of breakfast, which, with Dudley the pig that he was, sometimes turned out to be nothing.

Harry had just taken a sausage right out of Nessa's hand, much to her disliking, when the three Dursley's wandered downstairs and took a seat at the breakfast table. Their uncle, who usually began reading the paper the instant he sat down, sat stock still in his seat as Harry and Nessa set the food on the table and took their seats. The two siblings shared a look; they could sense an argument on the horizon.

"That bird of yours has got to go," he said through gritted teeth. "I can't take the racket anymore."

Harry made an indignant noise, but Nessa put a hand on his arm to settle his temper.

"She just doesn't like being trapped in that cage, Uncle Vernon." She said her voice soft and heart beating as she awaited his reaction. She, too, had heard Hedwig screeching all night and been woken up. She had also heard her uncle tossing and turning at three o'clock in the morning in agitation.

She watched as his face slowly turned purple and a vein in his head began throbbing violently.

"Third time this week!" he roared in response to her defense of Harry's owl, making her wince and shift fearfully in her chair. "If you can't control that owl it'll have to go!"

Nessa tried, yet again, to explain, but Harry's timid voice sounded over hers.

"She's bored," he said. "She's used to flying around outside. If I could just let her out at night—"

"Do I look stupid?" Vernon roared, a bit of fried egg dangling from his mustache that made Nessa scrunch her face up in disgust. Her aunt married this man _why_?

"I know what'll happen if that owl's let out." He said, exchanging a dark look with his wife and Nessa raised her eyebrows as if to ask what they were going on about.

Harry, again tried to argue, but his words were cut off by a long, loud belch by their cousin Dudley.

"I want more bacon."

"There's more in the frying pan, sweetums." Aunt Petunia said as her eyes grew misty with affection, staring at her son. "We must build you up while we've got the chance…I don't like the sound of that school food…"

Nessa rolled her eyes as she examined her cousin sitting in front of her. He was so big his chair nearly sagged to the ground with his weight. He was already filled to bursting point in her opinion. Her and Harry were the ones that needed food, for God's sake.

"Nonsense, Petunia, I never went hungry when I was at Smeltings," Vernon said heartily. "Dudley gets enough, don't you son?"

"I should think so," Harry muttered under his breath. Nessa giggled and elbowed her brother in the side.

Dudley then turned to Harry and grinned.

"Pass the frying pan."

"You forgot the magic word." He said, irritably.

Nessa slapped a hand over his mouth in reflex, but it was already too late. The damage had been done. The reaction to such a simple question was the most ridiculous Nessa had ever seen in her life: Dudley gasped and fell off his chair with a crash that shook the whole kitchen; Mrs. Dursley gave a small scream and clapped her hands over her mouth; Mr. Dursley jumped to his feet, veins throbbing violently in his temples.

"H-h-he meant 'please'! He didn't mean it like that!" Nessa defended voice shaking.

"WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU" their uncle thundered, spraying spit over the table. Nessa cringed away from it and couldn't suppress the urge to wipe it off where it landed on her face. "ABOUT SAYING THE 'M' WORD IN OUR HOUSE?"

"But I—"Harry said, attempting to explain.

"HOW DARE YOU THREATEN DUDLEY!" Vernon roared pounding the table with his fist.

"I just—"

"I WARNED YOU! I WILL NOT TOLERATE MENTION EITHER OF YOUR ABNORMALITY UNDER THIS ROOF!"

Harry stared from his purple faced uncle to his pale aunt, who was trying to heave Dudley to his feet.

"Alright," he said. "Alright…"

Uncle Vernon sat down heavily breathing through his nose like a winded rhinoceros and watching Harry put of the corners of his small, sharp eyes. It was silent for several long moments as Nessa watched a defeated Harry out of the corner of her eyes and sighed, playing with the hem of her oversized trousers that had once belonged to Dudley.

At that moment, Vernon cleared his throat importantly and said, "Now, as we all know, today is a very important day."

Nessa and Harry both looked up to stare at their uncle in shock before giving each other a look, both filled with disbelief but Nessa could see the slight hope in Harry's eyes; they never remembered his birthday.

"This could well be the day that I make the biggest deal of my career," Vernon said.

Nessa watched Harry deflate slightly as he looked back at his toast. She glared at her uncle in undulated hatred. _Of course, _she thought bitterly, _he didn't care about anyone but himself. _Why had she even hoped he'd remembered? Vernon was talking about his stupid dinner party. He hadn't been talking of anything else the past two weeks. Some rich builder and his wife were coming to dinner and Uncle Vernon was hoping to get a huge order from him for his company where he made drills.

"I think we should run through the schedule one more time," Uncle Vernon said. "We should all be in position at eight o'clock. Petunia, you will be—?"

"In the lounge" Aunt Petunia said. "Waiting to welcome them graciously to our home."

"Good, good. And Dudley?"

"I'll be waiting to open the door." Dudley put on a foul, simpering smile. "May I take your coats Mr. and Mrs. Mason?"

"They'll love him!" Aunt Petunia cried rapturously.

"Excellent, Dudley," Uncle Vernon said. Then he rounded on Nessa and Harry. "And you?"

"We'll be in our bedroom, making no noise and pretending we're not there." Harry replied, tonelessly.

"Exactly," said Uncle Vernon nastily. "I will lead them into the lounge, introduce you, Petunia, and pour them drinks. At eight-fifteen —"

"I'll announce dinner," said Aunt Petunia.

"And, Dudley, you'll say —"

"May I take you through to the dining room, Mrs. Mason?" said Dudley, offering his fat arm to an invisible woman.

"My perfect little gentleman!" Aunt Petunia sniffed.

Nessa, who had already had enough of this conversation all together and wished they would shut their traps already, tuned the rest of it out, knowing Harry would fill in the blanks when asked to.

Nessa didn't know how long she had been sitting there without saying a word as she stared at the sunny pale blue sky out the window, but eventually Harry's voice brought her out of her reverie.

"C'mon, Nessa." He said, standing and leading the way outside.

She followed without a word into the beautiful day that awaited them outside and watched as he slumped down on the garden bench across the yard and began mumbling to himself. She had been just about ready to make fun of him for it, when she realized what he was saying.

"Happy birthday to me… happy birthday to me"

She felt as though he'd ripped her heart out of her chest and thrown it on the ground, stomping all over it with every word he spoke. She suddenly had an urge to cry for her younger brother, knowing how miserable he was here, but knowing it would only make things worse. Walking over, she sat next to him and slipped her arm through his, laying her head on his shoulder.

"I actually believed they remembered, you know," he mumbled quietly, staring past her and into the hedge.

She felt a familiar sting behind her eyes, sensing the pain in his voice.

"I know, Harry," she said, attempting to keep her voice even so he wouldn't hear the tears in her voice.

"I should've known better, I suppose, but I just couldn't help but hope." He said, sighing. A silent tear escaped Nessa's eyes. Knowing she was helpless and unable to make the feeling go away was the worst feeling she'd ever felt in her life. "And its worse that Hermione and Ron haven't written to me all summer. I guess they don't miss me as much as they said."

"Of course they do, Harry." She said, straightening up, wiping away the tear that escaped, and turning to face him with a smile on her face. "Maybe they're just busy this summer. I'm sure you'll get an owl from them soon."

He didn't say anything in response, nodding absentmindedly as though he hadn't heard her. She sighed and had just begun reaching out to touch him, when he sat bolt upright and stared at the hedge with eyes.

"What?" she said alarmed. "Harry, what is it?"

Turning to see what he was staring at, all she came face to face with was the hedge, beautiful and normal as it had always been. She turned back to her brother.

"Harry, what's wrong? You're scaring me." She said, her voice coming out higher than usual as her worry mounted when he continued to stare at the hedge.

"I—I—I saw someone. Someone was in the hedge, staring at us. They had green eyes."

Nessa regarded her brother as if he had gone mad before turning back to face the hedge, staring at it, feeling both weary and apprehensive. When she found nothing, she turned back to her brother.

"There's nothing in that hedge, Harry," she regarding him with concern.

"But—But there was! Nessa, I swear there was someone! You have to believe me!"

Nessa watched him look back at the hedge and walk over to stand by it, looking through it as though he saw something. She wanted to believe him, really she did, but he was acting so strange she didn't know if she should. Besides, there hadn't been anything when she'd looked. It was probably just an animal.

"C'mon, Harry, let's go back inside. Whatever it was is gone now. C'mon," she said, gently, pulling on his arm until she got him to walk in front of her back to the house.

When she reached the kitchen door, she looked back at the hedge curiously, examining it as she watched to see if anything popped out at her. Sighing, she stepped inside and closed the door right behind her, just as large green eyes appeared, staring intently at the door they had just disappeared through.

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**Ok, so there's the second chapter. Yay for me for getting another one up and posted by the end of the day. Anyways, hope you enjoy and please R&R.**


	3. Chapter 2

**Okay, so I seem to have come across author's block in my Sirius/OC story…once again. Ugh *Insert Frustration*. Don't even think about cheering about it Kayleigh. Anyways, I don't know what to do about it, so instead of beating my head against the wall repeatedly I am attempting to keep it at bay and hopefully an idea will come to me. Cross your fingers, yea? **

**Anyways, Weasley twins ahead! Woohoo *Insert happiness*! Enjoy!**

**Also, as Kayleigh has pointed out, I have not mentioned how old Nessa is. Nessa is a year older than Harry and a year younger than the twins and this story takes place in CoS, though I'm sure everyone has already figured that out. **

**Disclaimer: If I forgot to insert this last time (I don't remember) it applies to every chapter before and after this one because I always forget to put one every chapter. I do not own Harry Potter, only my OCs.**

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**2. Rescue**

Nessa and Harry passed their Uncle Vernon on the way back to their bedroom later that night. He gave them a pointed glare and opened his mouth as though to say something, probably of a rude nature. Hoping to avoid any further conflict, Nessa put her hands on Harry's back and pushed him quickly up the stairs to avoid their uncle and his tirade.

Harry had been in a foul mood since they had come in from outside, when he and Dudley had had an argument that had resulted in the two siblings cleaning the house from top to bottom. Nessa could hardly believe that such a punishment had been dished out for Harry mumbling a fake spell under his breath. Of course, it was something they had already seen coming and the punishment was well worth it when Dudley had run, as fast as his pudgy legs would take him, out of the living room. However, Nessa could not deny that the hot-headedness of her brother was seriously beginning to grind on her nerves. Sighing, she massaged her temples as Harry opened their bedroom door; there was a massive headache building just behind her eyes. On top of her irritation, she hadn't eaten since breakfast and her body was apparently not taking such a decision well.

Taking a step forward, she ran directly into Harry and quickly tried to catch her balance before she fell.

"Harry…" she snapped in irritation. "What is wrong with you, you can't just stand here, you git. Move!"

Harry, however, did not move and Nessa found her irritation growing quickly by the minute.

"For the love of—EEP!"

She'd pushed herself past Harry and into the room, only to come face-to-face with exactly why Harry had stopped in the first place. She took several steps back until she hit an equally shocked and afraid Harry. He rested a hand on her shoulder and pushed her forward, quickly and quietly shutting the door behind them. Pressing his back against the door, he pulled Nessa toward him as they stared at the creature with wide eyes.

In all honesty, Nessa found the creature a tad frightening with its enormous green eyes, round as saucers, and its bat-like ears. Dressed in what looked like a dirty white linen cloth, he only stood a good several inches.

"He was the one watching us," Harry whispered in her ear.

Nessa was too busy staring at the creature to have heard her brother correctly, but nodded all the same and took a large gulp as she processed that the tiny creature was probably not here to hurt them. She decided to check anyway; better safe than sorry, as she always liked to say.

She heard the Masons entering the house, the rumbling of her uncle's voice echoing slightly in her ears as the three occupants of the room stared at one another in curiosity and fear.

The creature jumped lightly off the bed and bowed, its long nose nearly touching the floor.

"Er—hello" Harry said nervously.

Nessa found herself edging slightly away from her brother and relaxing slightly as the creature began to explain who he was and why he was there. Nessa let her brother do most of the talking; socializing with people she didn't know made her slightly nervous; and opted to listen intently to the conversation instead, watching the elf's movements and actions carefully.

Of course, the visit had not all been great as the elf, who claimed was named Dobby, was apparently not supposed to be there and had very…er, _violent_ reactions to disobeying "his master". The noise had brought their uncle up to their room with threats of no food for a month.

It had only made things worse when Dobby had revealed that he had been intercepting their owls and Harry had chased him down the stairs and into the kitchen in his anger and desperate attempt to get the letters back, as Dobby refused to give them back unless they agreed not to return to Hogwarts.

Standing in the kitchen, they pleaded with him as he snapped his fingers and the pudding on top of the fridge levitated off of it and fell to the floor.

Now, a week later, Nessa found herself sitting on the windowsill, looking out into the night. She knew she shouldn't be up at five o'clock in the morning, seeing as it was far too early but she couldn't bring herself to sleep. It had been a horrible week. First, the visit from Dobby and then they had been grounded to their room. They were only let out once a day to use the bathroom and food was passed through to them through a flap in the door. Their uncle had also taken it upon himself to put bars on their window, which made it difficult to look out of, to keep them from going to school or notifying their friends. Sighing, Nessa wondered how long it would take them all to realize something was amiss.

Victoria, her best friend since her first year at Hogwarts, had written to her at least every three days, but she was aware of her family and probably thought nothing of her lack of response. Ron and Hermione were unawares as to how bad things got at the Dursleys. She had little hope that they would be able to deduce anything but Harry having gotten bored with them in the months they had not been at school. As for Fred and George Weasley, she had little hope of them noticing anything was amiss. She didn't have an owl and that would be their clever deduction as to why she had not graced their letters with responses.

Sighing heavily she rested her cheek in her hand and blew a strand of her auburn hair out of her eyes, staring back out at the sky. While most would find the pink and orange hues of the rising sunset to be comforting and beautiful, Nessa only found it quite depressing. It only promised another day that she would be unable to enjoy in the confines of her shared room with her brother.

She could feel her eyes beginning to droop finally as she let the stinging in her eyes from lack of sleep get the best of her and her hand fell out from beneath her head, jerking her awake rather abruptly. She shook herself awake and opened her eyes wide in attempt to keep them open and squealed at the sight that met her eyes. Scrambling as far away from the window in reflex, she felt her heart slow in its beating and stared in shock at the scene before her.

Ron Weasley's blue eyes and grin in her bedroom window was almost relieving, though she felt a glare settling on her face.

"Lord, Ronald," she seethed finally feeling her heart beat slow to its regular beat as her glare intensified. "You scared the pee out of me."

She heard snickering from the front seats and knew instantly that Ron could only be accompanied by none other than the Weasley twins.

"That's not exactly a very hard feat now is it, love?"

She huffed in exasperation and stood up to look up at the front seat of the turquoise car that the three brothers were sitting in. A _flying car_, might she add. There, in the front seat was the Weasley twins, brown eyes sparkling happily and arrogant grins plastered across their equally identical features. She threw them a nasty look and crossed her arms as she turned back to face Ron.

"What are you doing here?" she said, giving him a pointed look.

"Why haven't you lot answered any of my letters? We've asked you to stay at least twelve times and then dad came home and told us that one of you had used magic illegally—"

"That wasn't us—and how did he know about that anyway?"

"He works at the Ministry," Ron explained, eyeing her up and down. "You know we're not supposed to use magic outside of school—"

"Thank you for enlightening me, Ron" she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "I said we didn't do it, okay? Besides, I don't think either of us knows how to pull off magic without a wand so your accusations are invalid."

"Without a wand?" George inquired from the front seat. "Where the bloody hell are your wands?"

Nessa ran a hand over her face.

"_What _is it that you're here for? I'm not much friendly when I'm tired, you know." She said in an irritated tone of voice.

"I'll say," Fred muttered from the front seat, earning a harsh glare from Nessa and an elbow to the stomach from his twin, though Nessa was sure she heard him chuckling.

"We've came to take you back with us," Ron said. "Wake Harry up."

Nessa didn't waste any time asking anymore questions, though she found herself curious as to how they planned on getting them through the bars on the window without magic themselves. She whacked Harry upside the head with a pillow and he shot up instantly, grabbing his glasses and looking around frantically. His mouth fell open when he saw Ron in the window.

"Ron" he breathed in amazement. "What are you—How—"

"No time to explain, Harry" Nessa said. "They're getting us out of here."

"But they can't magic us out of here without getting us all into trouble." He said, yawning slightly near the end.

"We don't need to," Ron said, grinning at them through the bars. "You've forgot who I've got with me."

"Tie that around the bars." Fred said, throwing a rope to Harry and revving up the car as Harry did as he was told, a warning of their uncle waking up his only comment as he did so.

In no time, the twins had the bars off the window and had managed to fit themselves through the window to help them break into the closet where the Dursley's had locked up their school supplies. In a matter of minutes, Nessa was being helped into the front seat by the twins, as they situated themselves on either side of them. Harry had just been climbing in when Hedwig began screeching quite loudly from the bedroom and he immediately withdrew himself from the car and raced back to retrieve her. Of course, their uncle had to come in just as he was clambering back into the car and grabbed a hold of him in an attempt to keep him in the house, but, with Fred stepping on the gas and Nessa, Ron, and George tugging Harry into the car, he only ended up in the hedge below their window.

Nessa didn't remember much after that as she finally felt herself fall into a blissful sleep.

* * *

Nessa was jerked awake what seemed like only minutes later, but she was sure had to be at least an hour, judging by the change in scenery. The surrounding area was covered in either trees or fields and Nessa assumed that they were just outside of town, though she wasn't sure which one.

"Where are we?" she yawned, as she stretched out her arms and legs as much as possible in the cramped space she had sitting in the middle of the twins. It was then that she realized that she was currently resting against George's side, his arm draped over the back of the seat so that she could rest comfortably in the crook of his arm. He smiled brilliantly down at her as she blushed scarlet and sat up, mumbling apologies.

He seemed to be completely unfazed by their current position and simply moved his arm from the seat when she sat up and continued to grin down at her, tweaking her nose in affection and making her scrunch up her face. Laughing, he said "We're a little ways outside the village. Ottery St. Catchpole,"

Fred came to a stop next to a tumbledown garage in a small yard and Nessa and Harry looked out at the boys' house. It looked as though it had once been a large stone pigpen, but extra rooms had been added here and there until it was several stories high and so crooked it looked as though it were held up by magic. Four or five chimneys were perched on top of the red roof. A lopsided sign stuck in the ground near the entrance that read, THE BURROW. Around the front door lay a jumble of rubber boots and a very rusty cauldron. Several fat brown chickens were pecking their way around the yard.

"It's not much." Ron said his ears turning red in the way that Nessa knew only a Weasley could pull off.

"Its brilliant," the two siblings said in unison, making the blush spread from Ron's ears to his neck.

They got out of the car, Nessa's face splitting into a grin when she saw a grinning Victoria standing before her, looking the same as she always had, holding out a pair of clothes that she suspected Nessa would fit in. Her shoulder-length, naturally curly black hair that Nessa had once suspected was a perm and grey eyes sparkling merrily as she eyed her best friend. Victoria was incredibly pretty in Nessa's opinion, though she would never agree. Dressed in simple dark blue jeans and a t-shirt, her beauty was more subtle than eye-popping, but there all the same.

Nessa accepted the clothing with a hug and Victoria made her change in the garage away from the eyes of the boys and Nessa emerged quickly to hear the plan that the twins had come up with so they could avoid getting into trouble by their mother, which consisted of pretending Harry and Nessa having shown up in the middle of the night.

"This is not going to work, Fred," Victoria said, crossing her arms and scowling at him. Fred rolled his eyes and turned towards her.

"It will if you keep your bloody gob shut, Tori," he said, glaring at her in response to her comment.

Nessa, who was used to this by now, rolled her eyes and said nothing letting the two bicker as they normally did. Victoria and Fred never meant any harm to one another and would get over their arguments just as quickly as they had started. They were practically siblings after all.

Victoria, who had lost her mother in the first war and was left unaware of her father's identity (she assumed that he had walked out on her at an early age to avoid being a father), had been taken in by the Weasleys when she was only two. Molly Weasley had raised her since and Victoria was extremely grateful for her surrogate mother because, while the Weasley's may have been lacking in money, they made up for it with love and she could find absolutely no room to complain when she had been raised by such a wonderful family. In all honesty, she could have gotten worse.

Having instantly found solace and comfort in the Weasley twins, the three had quickly become best friends, though her relationship with Fred was much more complicated than the one she shared with George.

George was quick to end the argument before it could escalate, reminding them that they were cutting it rather close as it was.

"Come on, Nessa, I sleep—I sleep with Ginny." Tori said, paling slightly as she looked out at the house. Ron, too, seemed to have seen what she was seeing because he had taken on a green hue. The four others quickly whirled around and the twins paled instantly.

Mrs. Weasley was marching across the yard, scattering chickens, and for a short, plump, kind-faced woman, it was remarkable how much she resembled a saber-tooth tiger.

"Ah" Fred said.

"Oh dear" George said.

Mrs. Weasley came to a halt in front of them, her hands on her hips, staring from one guilty face to the next. She was wearing a flowered apron with a wand sticking out of the pocket.

"So," she said.

"Morning, Mum," George said, in what he clearly thought was a jaunty, winning voice.

"Have you any idea how worried I've been?" said Mrs. Weasley in a deadly whisper.

"Sorry, Mum, but see, we had to—"

All three of Mrs. Weasley's sons and Victoria were taller than she was, but they cowered as her rage broke over them.

"Beds empty! No note! Car gone — could have crashed — out of my mind with worry — did you care? — never, as long as I've lived — you wait until your father gets home, we never had trouble like this from Bill or Charlie or Percy —"

"Perfect Percy," muttered Fred.

"YOU COULD DO WITH TAKING A LEAF OUT OF PERCY'S BOOK!" yelled Mrs. Weasley, prodding a finger in Fred's chest. "You could have died, you could have been seen, you could have lost your father his job —"

It seemed to go on for hours. Mrs. Weasley had shouted herself hoarse. Nessa had honestly never been more afraid of someone before in her life and wondered if Tori had confused the lovely woman she had explained to her with someone else. Finally, Mrs. Weasley turned to the two cowering Potters, who backed away.

"I'm so happy to see you, Harry, Nessa." She said, smiling at them kindly. "Come on in and have some breakfast."

She turned and walked back into the house. Nessa gaped open mouthed at her retreating figure and sent Victoria a bewildered look. Victoria gave her an encouraging smile and then fell into step next to her as they followed Harry and Ron into the house, the twins talking quietly to one another a few steps behind them.

"Are you sure that's the woman that raised you?" Nessa asked, looking at her skeptically.

Victoria's tinkling, high-pitched laughter filled the air around them and Nessa smiled slightly, the laughter contagious despite her still being quite nervous.

"I suppose she is rather scary, yes?" Tori said in response, grinning and not waiting for her to answer as she continued. "Honestly, she's quite loving, a tad bit temperamental and overprotective, but loving all the same. And she makes the best food."

Nessa laughed at the random outburst, though she highly suspected the compliment to smooth things over for herself as they had just walked into the kitchen. Mrs. Weasley did not acknowledge the compliment as she continued to slam pots and pans around and mutter under her breath about her children.

Nessa took a seat at the scrubbed wooden table that sat in the middle of the cramped kitchen and looked around the room in awe and curiosity.

The clock on the wall opposite her had only one hand and no numbers at all. Written around the edge were things like Time to make tea, Time to feed the chickens, and You're late.

Books were stacked three deep on the mantelpiece, books with titles like Charm Your Own Cheese, Enchantment in Baking, and One Minute Feasts — It's Magic! And unless her ears were deceiving her, the old radio next to the sink had just announced that coming up was "Witching Hour, with the popular singing sorceress, Celestina Warbeck."

Mrs. Weasley continued to mutter as she cooked rather haphazardly, shooting her three sons and Victoria dirty looks every once in awhile. Apparently, her knowledge of the plan was just as bad as if she had actually participated in the rescue.

"Of course, I don't blame you, dears," she said, smiling tenderly at Harry and Nessa as she tipped eight or nine sausages onto their plates.

Nessa eyed the plate before her with wide eyes and looked up at her equally astonished brother. She'd never had this much food on her plate at one time during the summer she spent at the Dursley's and she could feel her stomach growling as Mrs. Weasley piled their plates with eggs and buttered toast as well. Nessa and Harry immediately tucked into their food, much to the delight of Mrs. Weasley.

Nessa looked up at the sound of someone coming down the stairs. The young red-headed girl was only there for a moment before she squealed and ran out just as fast as she had come. Nessa looked at the twins and Victoria, who were all sniggering into their plates.

"Ginny," Victoria explained, hiding her grin behind her hand as Mrs. Weasley glared at Fred for making a comment about her asking for Harry's autograph. "Their sister. She's been talking about Harry all summer."

"What are you whispering about over there, Victoria Hastings?" Mrs. Weasley's stern voice sounded in their ears, making both girls jump away from each other in surprise.

"Nothing," Tori said quickly with a quick glance at Nessa.

Mrs. Weasley glared at her suspiciously before turning a soft smile on Nessa.

"Eat up, dear," she said, kindly. "You are looking rather peaky. What do those muggles feed you?"

She gave a soft tut and gave her cheek a fond pat before she turned to do the dishes.

Nessa shared a look with Tori before going back to her breakfast with a slight smile on her face. She had a feeling that she was going to like it here far more than she had at Privet Drive.

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**Ok there's the third chapter. I know that I've been a little heavy on the whole book content thing, but I promise this was the last chapter that will have so much of the book in it. I only put it in to begin the story. Anyways, hope you enjoyed and review!**


	4. Chapter 3

**Hello, everyone! I'm so sorry for the long wait on the update. Life's been a little crazy and my laptop decided that it would stop working, so I was unable to update any of my stories. Anyways, I got a new laptop for Christmas so I have decided to grace you all with an update. Thank you all for your reviews; they are much appreciated. I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

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**Chapter 3**

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Nessa found the rest of her day spent outside in the Weasleys' garden much to her chagrin. She had only gotten an hour of sleep the night before and found herself not at all ready to participate in what the boys seemed to think was going to be enjoyable. She didn't see how de-gnoming a garden would be at all enjoyable for her. Of course, it had been her decision on whether or not to join them, seeing as it was not her punishment, but Harry insisted they help and she didn't want to seem rude.

Victoria was walking next to her, her strides quick and measured, her eyes sparking in irritation. Obviously, she was in total agreement with the lack of sleep. Although, Victoria had also been ordered to de-gnome the garden as punishment for encouraging the boys in their plans to rescue Harry and Nessa from Privet Drive.

She had been the only one of the punished siblings that had retaliated to Mrs. Weasley's punishment and had been met with full force at the brunt of her anger. Of course when Victoria was angry it was a little hard to phase her, so she had not been at all afraid of the consequences for her actions. As the Weasley boys all paled in their seats and Harry shrunk back in surprise as Victoria raised her voice, Nessa had nearly grabbed her best friend and slapped her clear across the face. While she could see where Victoria was coming from, she didn't think that yelling at Mrs. Weasley was going to help her cause at all. Not that Victoria ever thought much when she was angry.

Nessa had quickly deduced that not many people stood up to Mrs. Weasley in her anger, judging by the looks of shock on the twins' and Ron's faces. Nessa had been quick to pull her friend back into her seat and sent her a desperate look that Victoria had only responded with a glare.

Now as they all headed towards the garden at the back of the Weasleys' yard, the boys stayed as far from Victoria as they could get. Nessa rolled her eyes. Idiots. If Victoria wanted to kill them, she would. No matter how far away they were. She let them bask in their false sense of security, however, and said nothing as Victoria led the way to the garden.

Nessa decided as soon as she saw the Weasley garden that the Weasley's were all a bit strange. She didn't suppose a garden full of mostly weeds constituted as a garden, though she supposed it could just be a neglected one. Stepping into the weeds and grass that terribly needed cutting, she decided that, yes, it was a garden. There were all knids of plants spilling from the flower beds, some she had learned about in Herbology and some she had never even dreamed of learning about. A frog pond rested in the middle of the garden and Nessa could see the frogs swimming through the clear water or jumping around its edges. Tall and gnarled trees were lining the garden's walls and Nessa found herslef smiling at the neglected garden they were standing in. Her aunt Petunia would have had a screaming fit if she could see it.

"Muggles have garden gnomes too, you know." Harry told Ron.

"Yeah, I've seen those things they think are gnomes," Ron said, his head buried in a nearby peony bush. "Like fat, little Santa Clauses with fishing rods,"

Victoria grinned wickedly and pushed him into the peony bush before running away, laughing and hiding behind Fred. Ron jumped out of the bush indignantly, glaring at Victoria as she waved her fingers at him from around Fred, who was sniggering next to George and Harry.

"I'm unappreciated, I tell you." Ron muttered to Nessa, who smiled sheepishly, but didn't offer him a response as she was busy trying to hold her own laughter in.

Suddenly, there was a violent scuffling noise from behind Ron and Nessa found herself squealing and backing into George, who caught her around the waist and winked down at her. Nessa was far too afraid to notice that his hands were resting comfortably on her waist as she tried as best as she could to get as far away from the peony bush as she could. Eyes wide, she watched as Ron turned around and rustled through the bush.

"This is a gnome" he said grimly, as he turned around.

Nessa silently agreed that it looked nothing like Santa Clause as it yelled for Ron to let it go. It was small and leathery looking with a head like a potato. Ron held it away from him as it tried to kick out at him, but he grabbed it by the ankles and flipped it upside down. He raised it above his head and began to swing it around like a lasso.

"What on Earth are you doing, Ron?!" Nessa screeched, as Harry looked alarmed beside her.

She felt George's hands tighten on her waist as he leaned down to speak softly in her ear.

"It's alright, love, he's not hurting him."

She looked up into his smiling face and eyed the gnome in pity before looking back up at him, her eyes filled with such childlike fear and innocence, he suddenly felt the overwhelming need to punch Ron right there. Shaking his head slightly to dislodge the sudden possessiveness he felt towards her, he forced himself to listen to what she was saying.

"Promise?" she whispered quietly.

He smiled softly at her and bent down to place a light kiss to her forehead.

"Promise."

With a final squeeze to her waist that made her squeal and jump away from him, her face setting into a glare, he joined Fred to help with the de-gnoming, chuckling. He wasn't at all surprised when Victoria leaned up against one of the gnarled trees surrounding the garden's wall and crossed her arms over her chest as she watched Harry and Ron degnome the garden. Nor was he surprised when he saw Nessa wrap her arms around herself and eye the four of them as though she was unsure as to whether or not she should join in and help them or if she should go and join Victoria over by the wall. Obviously, she was not completely comfortable with the way she was supposed to go about getting rid of the gnomes. George shook his head as he grabbed a gnome and set to work. As far as he was concerned, the faster they got this over with the faster he could go back to the house and finish his breakfast. His stomach grumbled at the thought.

"What's up with you today, mate?" Fred muttered as he searched through one of the hedges at the farthest end of the garden.

George shot him a confused look. Usually he understood exactly what his twin was talking about, but Fred seemed to be speaking a language all his own this morning and George felt as though he was struggling to keep up. Fred shot him a dubious look.

"What's with you and Nessa?" he asked, finally stopping his search for gnomes to turn towards his twin and folding his arms across his chest.

Yep, they were definitely speaking different languages because George had no idea what Fred was going on about. Nothing had changed between him and Nessa as far as he was aware. He sent a doubtful look over to Nessa, who was finally searching through the bushes and plants cramped into the little garden, muttering to herself and glaring over at Victoria for her lack of help. Nothing had changed...had it?

"Er, I'm not quite sure I know what you mean, Freddie..." George trailed off when he looked back over to his twin to see his face set in determination.

"You've been acting all...sappy and gross," Fred said, eyeing George in a probing way. George suddenly felt as though his brain was being picked at, all of his private thoughts out in the open for the world to see. Not that any of his thoughts were kept from Fred.

George shifted his weight to his left foot, something Fred was very aware he did when he was uncomfortable or confused. He sighed in frustration.

"You know, all being gentle with her and kissing her forehead and looking at her like she's the reason you get up in the morning. Merlin's beard, George, you're scaring me a little over here. Why didn't you just tell me you fancied her? I thought we talked about everything." Fred said.

George sputtered indignantly, nearly choking on air as he stared at his brother in disbelief, too shocked to register the hurt look in his eyes. Fancy Nessa?! He didn't fancy Nessa! Not in the slightest. Sometimes he felt as though his brother just pulled words out of his arse for his own enjoyment.

"Have you gone completely mental, Fred?" George hissed at his brother and watched his brother's face change from hurt to surprise. "I don't fancy Nessa, for Merlin's sake. I swear sometimes you make me doubt your intelligence."

Fred's eyes sparked with anger and he seemed to blow up like a blow fish in his anger, though George was already just as angry. Keeping secrets from Fred? Unthinkable. How could he even suggest such a thing? Did he not tell him everything? Before Fred could retaliate, however, Victoria was suddenly standing next to them, eyeing them apprehensively. Her face jolted George out of his anger and his eyes softened as he looked at her. She was never afraid of anything and if she was, she was loathe to show it. Obviously, he and Fred were making quite the scene, facing off in a garden.

He wrapped a protective arm around her and pulled her into his side. He felt her arms wind around his waist as she buried her face into his chest.

"What's wrong?" she asked in a quiet voice so that she didn't alert the three of them to the others in the garden.

"Nothing," George said, reassuringly. "Just a small misunderstanding."

She gave Fred a disbelieving look, but Fred's anger seemed to have faded just as quickly as George's and he stepped towards her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and pulling her in for a hug so that she was sandwiched between the two of them. She looked up at both of them and searched their faces for sincerity. She seemed to find it because she nodded and allowed them to plant a kiss on each of her cheeks before she pulled away.

"Whatever it was you two thought was important to fight about, talk about it, okay?" she said, eyeing them sternly. "I know it sounds stupid, but it'll help. Promise me you will."

Fred and George shared a helpless look before they nodded reluctantly. She grinned and hugged them around the neck before skipping back over to her tree.

"Completely mental, that one," Fred muttered as they watched her push Ron back into the peony bush and run around the garden laughing as he chased her in his anger.

George grunted in agreement. How she had gone from being concerned about him and Fred to mischievous in the span of thirty seconds he had no clue and he knew better than to ask. Her moodswings sometimes gave him an incredible bout of whiplash.

The twins were suddenly standing in an awkward kind of silence. They rarely fought and when they did, it was silently agreed that they were sorry. Never, ever had the words actually been spoken out loud. Under certain circumstances, it was agreed, that a verbal apology had to be spoken, but their fiights had never been too terrible and neither had this one. If they fought, usually they'd tell a joke and then everything would be okay again. If you were joking with someone you were angry with it usually meant you forgave them...right? George inwardly groaned. This was too bloody complicated for his tastes.

He wondered if he could just get away with breaking his promise to Tori and she would never find out, but he supposed that was an idiotic plan and quickly decided against it. Besides he needed to assure Fred that nothing was going on between himself and Nessa, so that he wouldn't think that he was hiding things from his own twin. That wasn't something he could do by cracking a joke as an apology.

"I don't fancy Nessa, Fred," he said, quietly, suddenly finding the dirt beneath his feet utterly captivating. "And I'm not keeping secrets. I don't know why you've suddenly decided I have been."

Fred was drawing circles in the dirt with the toe of his shoe as he coughed uncomfortably.

"Yes, well, I just thought, you know, that maybe you fancied her and were afraid to tell me...or something." he finished awkwardly.

George grinned to himself at Fred's struggle to make an apology. He almost teased him about it before remembering he had to tell him what was going on.

"Its not that I fancy her...its just...I feel bad, you know, that we never cared enough to ask about her home life. And she had to endure so long with those awful people. I feel like its my job to protect her, you know. She's too...-"

"Sweet?" Fred supplied when George struggled to find a word to describe her.

"Not exactly, but that'll have to do. Look, I don't fancy her. I just feel like its kind of my fault that she was locked up in that awful place. We should have asked or said something."

George looked over at Nessa, who had given up with degnoming the garden and was laughing with Tori about something or another. He supposed he could see why Fred would think he fancied her. She wasn't exactly bad looking, though she wasn't the usual bimbo he dated. She was short, really bloody short to be honest, not even five feet was his guess, and she only came up to the bottom of his chest. Her eyes were a pretty hazel color and her auburn hair was thick and wavy. She wasn't too skinny and she had a beautiful smile, but she was pretty in a normal sort of way. Not the obnoxious beauty queens he usually found himself dating with the long legs and caked on make up. She was beautiful, however, in her own way, but, no, he didn't fancy her.

She had this...innocence about her that made his protective instincts kick in and a sort of childlike wonder to the world, as though she couldn't believe all of the new things she was seeing. It sort of made him feel like a big brother. His feelings for her were completely platonic, not even a bit of romantic feelings towards her at all, other than a silent agreement that she was beautiful. He couldn't imagine himself even trying to make a move on her, let alone anyone else. Merlin be damned, but if anyone hurt her he'd kill them on the spot.

A strong hand was suddenly clapping him on the shoulder and he almost jumped a foot in the air until he realised it was Fred, who grinned at him nervously.

"Look, I'm sorry, brother. I didn't mean to insinuate that I didn't trust you to tell me everything. Its just I think you _do _fancy her." George opened his mouth to protest, but Fred cut across him. "I don't think you realise yet, but you will and I'll be waiting with a big bowl of 'I told you so'."

George rolled his eyes. Whatever his brother was going on about was absolutely mental. Twins or not, he couldn't notice George's romantic feelings for someone he'd known since second year in just one day. He hadn't changed towards her that much. His assumptions were far fetched and there was no way that George was ever going to fall for Vanessa Potter. She was beautiful and compassionate, but she was his friend. And that was all she was.

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**So what did you guys think? Good? Bad? Ok? Anyways, I'm happy I finally got the chance to update this story and I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. What do you guys think...Is Fred gonna have a bowl of 'I told you so' for George on the horizon?**

**P.S. I hope you guys had a good Christmas. I know I did! Consider this my present to you. Merry Christmas...even if its a little late XD.**


	5. Chapter 4

**Hey, ya'll! Sorry I went AWOL for so long. School and friends and life have been kicking my butt lately, so I've been too busy and stressed to write, but I'm back! Finally. **

**Rose-Dimka-LiveLaughLove(Kayleigh): When was the last time you updated your story, dear? Yeah! Hush your face. Lol what happened to typing up the first chapter for Paternal Mishaps, huh?**

**potterphilospher: Two reviews in a row? Awesome! I'm glad you like the story and I hope you continue to enjoy it. I have plenty of ideas for George and Nessa and I'm excited to be writing about them again. Thanks for your feedback!**

**HpDork FreakaZoid: Thanks for the review! I hope you continue to enjoy the story.**

**Arwin Fred: YAY! You're back! And I can't say(mostly because I'm not entirely sure) but she probably will be, Shh! Don't tell anyone!**

**Hope you enjoy!**

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**Chapter 4**

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The atmosphere in the Burrow was vastly different from the one in Privet Drive.

The Weasley family seemed to be a magnet for chaos, which was incredibly comforting to the Potter siblings. Unlike the organized normalcy of Privet Drive, the Burrow was over run by disorder, despite Mrs. Weasley's attempts at organization. The family themselves were strange and unexpected, so Nessa supposed that it made sense for the house to reflect their personalties. The house was disorganized and boisterous, silence being completely unheard of where the family was concerned.

Magic was another thing that Nessa found comforting about the Weasley household. It hung in the air and was incorporated all around the house in objects that appeared perfectly normal until you looked twice. Nessa had nearly jumped in fright when she had witnessed the downstairs mirror telling Harry to tuck his shirt in and the family clock that hung on the wall had left her staring in awe when she had watched Mr. Weasley's hand move from 'Home' to 'Traveling'. She had always hated being away from magic during the summer. While she had no problems with Muggles, she felt out of place in their world, like she didn't belong. It had been hard for her to make friends growing up when strong bouts of emotions had caused strange phenomenons to occur around her. Now that she was finally surrounded by magic once again, she felt a little less restless.

The Burrow was not, however, entirely perfect. The ghoul in the attic frightened her slightly, so she tried her best to avoid the top level of the house and the explosions that came from the twins' room was something that she found slightly disconcerting, despite the Weasleys assurances that it was perfectly normal.

The most unusual thing about the Burrow, however, was how everyone treated the two siblings. Mrs. Weasley always fussed over how much they ate, sometimes attempting to make them eat fourth or fifth helpings at every meal, something Nessa was never capable of doing. Mr. Weasley was always trying to get her or Harry to sit next to him at the dinner table to inform him about life with Muggles and Percy always sat next to Nessa at breakfast in an attempt to talk about her classes and grades at Hogwarts. While she enjoyed all of the Weasleys, Percy was one she generally avoided, though she wasn't particulary averse to him.

About a week after they had arrived at the Burrow, Nessa heard from Hogwarts during breakfast. Her and Tori had slept in far too long that morning and had nearly missed breakfast. They'd spent most of the night laughing and giggling rather than getting any sleep and the fact must have shown as they both sat down with a yawn because Mrs. Weasley shook her head in exasperation as she handed them their toast.

"You two wouldn't be half as tired if you didn't gossip and giggle all night long. You act like you aren't going to see each other the next morning." she said as they filled their bowls with porridge.

Nessa smiled sheepishly as Tori rolled her eyes and played with her porridge with a look of disgust on her face, though she was careful to hide it from Mrs. Weasley.

"Letters from school," she said suddenly, passing the two of them thick identical envelopes addressed in green ink.

"I wonder if you lot got the same as us." George said, appearing behind them to read over their shoulders. "Nice of you to join us, by the way." he added with a grin.

Tori elbowed him in the side as she ripped into her envelope and smirked when he glared at her.

**THIRD-YEAR STUDENTS WILL REQUIRE:**

**The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 3 by Miranda Goshawk**

**Break with a Banshee by Gilderoy Lockhart**

**Gadding with Ghouls by Gilderoy Lockhart**

**Holidays with Hags by Gilderoy Lockhart**

**Travels with Trolls by Gilderoy Lockhart**

**Voyages with Vampires by Gilderoy Lockhart**

**Wanderings with Werewolves by Gilderoy Lockhart**

**Year with the Yeti by Gilderoy Lockhart**

"Good lord," Tori muttered under her breath. " What in Merlin's name do we need all those Lockhart books for?"

"We have a witch for our next defense teacher, I'm telling you." Fred muttered in response with a cautious look at his mother's back.

Nessa and Tori turned to glare at him in unison, as George smothered a laugh.

"What, exactly, is that supposed to mean?" Tori snapped.

Fred stared at her warily and raised his hands in surrender. With one last glare, Tori stood from the table and headed outside, the twins and Nessa following after her.

"How's Molly plan on buying all of us those books anyway?" she asked when she came to a stop under a large oak tree that was far enough away from the house so they wouldn't be overheard, but close enough that Mrs. Weasley could keep an eye on them. "Lockhart's books are really expensive."

Nessa looked away from the group, an uncomfortable feeling in her stomach she knew was close to pity. She said nothing as they continued the conversation, instead staring out at the large expanse of the Burrow's yard in thoughtful silence. She knew she shouldn't feel pity over the Weasley's lack of money, especially knowing they wouldn't particularly enjoy the sentiment, but she couldn't help but feel that it was slightly unfair. Sometimes she wondered, though, if being poor was actually a bad thing. Of course, it made certain things difficult, but the Weasleys rarely had the money to indulge and they seemed alot more grateful for the things they had because of it. Rich families, like Malfoy and the Dursleys, seemed to take the little things in life for granted. Taking a peek at the twins and Tori out of the corner of her eye, she smiled slightly as she watched them lounge against the tree as though they hadn't a care in the world.

Ron's voice jolted her out of her reverie. Looking up at where he was standing with a set of brooms over each shoulder, the twins jumped to their feet and raced to his side without a second glance. Tori scowled as she stood up from the ground, brushing off her jeans.

"Goodbye to you too." She muttered. "I swear those two would die of shock if they weren't allowed to play Quidditch. Come on lets go find Ginny. She's probably staring at Harry through her bedroom window."

Nessa felt her head swivel toward her in alarm. Tori just laughed uproarisly and ran toward the house without another word.

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Mrs. Weasley woke them up early the following Wednesday, much to their dislike. Despite her attempts to get out of bed, Nessa found herself falling back asleep at least two times after that before Mrs. Weasley came stomping back up the stairs to scold them for not waking up. After a quick breakfast of bacon snadwiches, they all gathered around the fireplace as Mrs. Weasley shoved the flower pot at a nervous Nessa and explained what she was supposed to do.

Nessa stared dubiously at the grey ashes that resided in the flowerpot she held and grabbed a handful, doing her best to ignore the nervous knot that had begun to build in her stomach. Throwing the glittering powder into the fireplace and jumping back away from the flames as they turned green and rose above her head. Gulping, she stepped into the flames and felt the tickling warmth of the flames as they engulfed her.

With a deep breath, she yelled, "Diagon Alley" as clearly as she could and hoped that the sudden feeling of being sucked down a giant drain was normal. She could feel herself spinning, the roaring in her ears almost deafening in its intensity. Despite feeling sick, she kept her eyes open so that she knew which grate to get out of. Seeing Fred and George through one of the grates, she pushed herself toward them and soon found herself toppling forward before a set of strong arms wrapped themselves around her waist and hauled her up. She suddenly felt dizzy and leaned up against whoever was holding her, closing her eyes in an attempt to stop herself from getting sick.

"Ugh, that was awful!" she said, burrowing her face in his shirt.

She heard the twins laugh and groaned as the sound made his chest rumble and caused her head to move in return. Groaning at the sick feeling that had returned, she pushed George away and caught herself on Fred's arm as the world pitched around her and she nearly fell to the ground.

"Where's the bathroom? I think I'm going to be sick." she said, a hand on her stomach as though it would stop her from getting sick.

Wide-eyed, the twins pointed towards a hall near the back where she could see the womans restroom from where she was standing. Stumbling, she made her way slowly toward the restroom and knocked on the door. With no response she stepped into the one person restroom and locked the door behind her. Standing over the large trashcan next to the sink, she breathed as deeply and slowly as she could in the hopes that it would help settle her stomach.

She didn't know how long she stood there before a knock on the door made her jump and Tori's voice floated through the door.

"You alright, Nessa?"

Nessa moved to open the door to let her in before moving back over to the trashcan. Tori stepped into the bathroom and locked the door behind her before leaning up against it.

"Happened to me too when I first went through the floo. Molly was so afraid to let me try it even though I was sure I could. She fussed over me for hours afterwards." Tori said, smiling fondly as she recalled the memory.

Nessa, who had rested her head up against the wall in an attempt to keep her head from spinning, smiled at her. After a few more minutes, Nessa was convinced that she wouldn't throw up and the two girls made their way back to the Weasleys, who were all gathered around one of the store's fireplaces looking worried.

"Have either of you seen Harry?" Mr. Weasley said when they reached them.

Nessa suddenly felt like getting sick again, but not for the same reason.

"No," Tori said with a sideways glance at Nessa. "Didn't he go just after Nessa?"

"Oh no," Mrs. Weasley said, holding onto one of Ginny's hands tightly. "I knew we should have just taken the car. How could we have expected him to get here when he didn't even know how to use the floo. Oh, this is all my fault. His family is going to be so upset and-"

Mr. Weasley placed a placating hand on her shoulder in an attempt to calm her.

"Now, Molly, Nessa made it here just fine and she didn't know how to use the floo anymore than Harry did." he said, voice gentle. "He couldn't have gotten far, we'll go look for him."

Molly nodded and dragged Ginny with her outside the shop. Nessa followed quickly after her, searching the busy street for any sign of her brother.

"Relax, Nessa, we'll find him." Tori said where she was trying to keep pace next to her. The boys were walking swiftly ahead of them, looking up and down the street. "Slow down, will you? You're practically jogging down the street."

Nessa ignored her and continued to walk as quickly as she could down the street before she realised the boys had begun sprinting down the street. Heart hammering she did the same until she was bypassing Percy, much to his shock, in an attempt to get to her brother.

"Harry," Mr Weasley panted. "We hoped you'd only gone one grate too far..."

Nessa threw her hands around her brother and hugged him tight, who stood next to Hagrid covered in soot with his glasses broken.

"What on Earth did you do wrong, Harry?" she asked, pulling away from him just as a panting Tori caught up to the group.

Clutching a stitch in her side, she stared at Nessa in shock.

"You know...for a short person...you run...fast," she panted, hands on her knees to catch her breath.

The twins sniggered when Nessa glared at her.

"Where'd you come out?" Ron asked.

"Knockturn Alley." Hagrid said grimly.

"Excellent!" The twins said, grinning.

"What?!" Nessa said, head whipping towards Harry. She'd never been down Knockturn Alley, but she'd heard plenty of stories from the envious twins and a few mentions from the Slytherins. Gruesome stories. "Are you alright? What happened?"

Harry sighed and grabbed her hands to stop her from checking him for injuries. Honestly, it wasn't that bad.

"I'm fine, Nessa. Really." he said, seeing her disbelieving look.

It was an hour later when they all met back up at Flourish and Blotts after having aquired all of the other necessary school supplies and they were all suprised by the amount of people milling outside the bookshop. A large banner stretched across the upper windows reading:

**GILDEROY LOCKHART will be signing copies of his autobiography, MAGICAL ME, today 12:30-4:30 P.M.**

"We can actually meet him!" Hermione squealed loudly. "I mean, he's written almost the whole booklist!"

Tori gave Nessa a loaded look before rolling her eyes and grabbing her hand to pull her through the crowd that was mostly made up of witches around Mrs. Weasley's age. They past a harassed looking wizard, who was trying to get the ladies to stop pushing at each other to get inside the store. Grabbing The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 3 as they passed, they joined the Weasleys and Grangers in the long line of patrons that wound to the back of the shop where Gilderoy Lockhart was signing his books.

"Oh, there you are, good." A breathless Mrs. Weasley said, patting down her hair. "We'll be able to see him in a minute..."

Tori giggled behind her hand as the twins laughed behind her. Nessa gave them a confused look.

"Mum fancies him." George whispered in her ear, causing her to blush at how close he was with so many people watching and giggle as Mrs. Weasley patted her hair down again.

The excited chatter in the room filled her ears as Gilderoy Lockhart slowly came into view, seated at a table surrounded by large pictures of his own face, all winking and flashing dazzlingly white teeth at the crowd. The real Lockhart was good-looking, in Nessa's opinion, with robes of forget-me-not blue that exactly matched his eyes and a wizard's hat that was set at a jaunty angle on top of his wavy blonde hair.

A short, irritable-looking man was dancing around him, trying to take pictures around the crowd.

"Out of the way, there" he snarled at Ron, moving back to get a better shot. "This is for the Daily Prophet-"

"Big deal" Ron said, rubbing his foot where the man had stepped on it.

Gilderoy Lockhart heard him and looked up from signing someone's book. He saw Ron-and then he saw Harry.

"Oh no." Nessa muttered as he jumped to his feet.

"It can't be Harry Potter?" he positively shouted.

Nessa groaned quietly as the crowd parted, whispering excitedly. Lockhart dived forward, seized Harry's arm, and pulled him to the front just as Nessa reached for his other arm to pull him backwards. Lockhart ended up winning the battle and pulled Harry to the front, nearly knocking Nessa over in the process. She caught herslef on Ron's arm and straightened, glaring at him angrily. The photogropher was clicking away madly as Harry's face burned and Lockhart smiled brilliantly.

"Ladies and gentleman" Lockhart said loudly to the crowd. "What an extraordinary moment this is! The perfect moment for me to make a little announcement I've been sitting on for some time! When young Harry here stepped into Flourish and Blotts today, he only wanted to buy my autobiography — which I shall be happy to present him now, free of charge, he had no idea that he would shortly be getting much, much more than my book, Magical Me. He and his schoolmates will, in fact, be getting the real magical me. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have great pleasure and pride in announcing that this September; I will be taking up the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"

Nessa thought that Hermione might just faint with happiness at this news, as she practically jumped up and down, applauding with the rest of the crowd. Nessa, however, could already tell that this year was going to be absolutely awful.

-o0o-

"That awful, self-absorbed, good for nothing, egotistical moron! Did he honestly think that no one noticed he was just using Harry for his own gain! And he couldn't have made a bigger scene in front of everyone-"

Tori, looking faintly amused, grabbed Nessa's arm and pulled her down onto her bed. They had been back from Diagon Alley for a couple hours now and Tori had noticed how much Nessa had needed to rant about something. She'd been quiet most of the day and, while she hadn't been downright rude, she hadn't been particularly nice either. When asked a question, she gave short, clipped responses and did her best to avoid anyone in the house by leaving the room everytime someone entered. She had come extremely close to snapping at Victoria, which was something that happened so rarely it usually left one or both of them in shock.

Tori had dragged her best friend up to her and Ginny's shared bedroom in order to get her away from everyone and give her a chance to get whatever had been bothering her off her chest. Of course, there had been only one thing that had the potential to anger her like this: Gilderoy Lockhart.

"You need to relax, sweetie. If you don't calm down, you'll end up killing someone." Tori said, laughter evident in her voice.

Nessa huffed and flopped backwards on the bed next to Tori.

"Do you suppose anyone would notice if I did?" she asked, staring at the ceiling above her.

Tori gave her a sideways look. "I think Molly would notice."

Nessa snorted, but said nothing. Tori sighed.

"Quit worrying about Harry, Nessa, he knows how to take care of himself." she said softly.

Nessa didn't bother trying to tell her that wasn't what was bothering her; Nessa and Tori didn't normally lie to each other, mostly because they knew they couldn't get away with it. They saw threw each other so easily, it was almost as though they were reading each others thoughts.

"I just want him to have a normal childhood, you know?" she whispered. "One where he doesn't have to worry about Voldemort and being famous and people like Lockhart who always try to use him for their own personal gain. Is that too much to ask?"

Tori didn't say anything for awhile before she rolled onto her side to look at her best friend.

"No," she said quietly. "No its not...but some of us aren't that lucky."

* * *

**There you go, the fourth chapter, though it was an awfully long wait for it. Anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter.**


	6. Chapter 5

**Hey guys, I know it's been awhile but we moved and I lost my wifi connection so I've been having trouble updating as you can imagine. However, I just learned that I could update on my new phone(which is seriously the coolest thing ever) so i decided to give you guys an update. Anyways hope you enjoy the chapter!**

**Chapter 5**

-oOo-

The end of summer break passed quickly for Nessa and she looked at her return to Hogwarts with a sort of bitter sweet feeling. As excited as she was to return to the castle, she was going to miss the Burrow. She had gotten used to Mrs. Weasley's amazing cooking and interacting with the family. At the same time she didn't know how Tori handled all the chaos on a regular basis. It was almost overwhelming in its intensity even though it was quite lovely. She wondered how much alone time one got in a place like this. But at Hogwarts she would be able to find comfort in the peace of the library and spend time with all of the friends she had missed over the summer.

The last night at the Burrow was probably the most fun she had ever had. After an amazing dinner that Mrs. Weasley prepared, the twins set off a number of Filibusters Fireworks, the red and blue hues lighting up the kitchen for nearly a half an hour. With a last cup of hot chocolate, they were all sent to bed.

Now as Nessa sat at the kitchen the next morning eating her breakfast and waiting for the rest of the Weasley's to get ready to go to the train station, she wondered how she could have possibly thought that the Weasley house was chaotic before today. It had started the instant she had gotten out of bed with Mrs. Weasley yelling at those who had not woken up on her first round through the house. The day had then proceeded with many loud thumps and bangs as the household packed last minute items and ran up and down the stairs. Even now, with most of the family sitting at the breakfast table, there was still yells down to the kitchen ringing down the stairs asking for last minute supplies.

Finally, they had loaded all of their trunks into the Ford Anglia, much to Nessa's surprise. It didn't take her long to realise that Mr. Weasley had expanded the insides of the car to fit them all inside without fuss.

"Don't say anything to Molly." Tori whispered to her as she slid into the seat next to her. "She doesn't approve of Arthur's...er, *improvements*."

Nessa nodded as Mrs. Weasley slid into the front seat and stayed silent as they trundled down the drive, watching the Burrow disappear behind her and wondering when she was going to see it again. It wasn't long before they were back. First George had forgotten his box of Fillibuster's Fireworks, and then Fred had forgotten his broomstick, and they had almost been to the highway when Ginny suddenly screeched about forgetting her diary. But, at long last, they had finally arrived at King's Cross station with tempers very high and twenty minutes late. They arrived at the platform just as the scarlet steam engine let out a whistle, warning last minute students to board the train.

Mrs. Weasley gave all her children tight hugs, Nessa included, and barely had time to warn them all to be good this year before they were all rushing onto the train.

They were all in such a hurry that no one realised that Harry and Ron were missing.

-OoO-

Nessa was beginning to panic.

She knew she shouldn't, knew it was absolutely useless for it was helping nothing. But she couldn't help it. Scanning, the Gryffindor table once more, she searched for the familiar fiery red hair that was easily noticeable in the sea of colors in the Great Hall. She assumed that if Ron were here, Harry would have to be nearby. Unsurprisingly, she found no one but Percy, just like the other eighty times she had checked.

She knew she was probably overreacting, but ever since Dobby had shown up on Privet Drive warning about some unknown danger, she felt panicky. That was one of the things she hated most about Harry's adventures. While she understood Harry felt the need to be noble and fight the man who had ruined their lives, she hated never knowing what he was up to. She was proud of Harry for standing up for what he believed in, but she wished he would confide in her more about his missions. But this time it wasn't Harry keeping information; It was Dobby and that only made it worse. The house elf had the information but for whatever reason had decided to keep it a secret even though the knowledge would have helped Nessa understand what she was supposed to be protecting Harry from. She hadn't realised how much she was freaking out about what Dobby had said until she realised Harry was missing from Hogwarts.

"Nessa, are you even listening to me right now?" Tori whisper-yelled in her ear, snapping her out of her thoughts. " For Merlin's sake, Nessa, you worry almost as bad as Molly. I'm sure he's fine. Knowing those two they probably got into a game of Wizard's Chess and didn't even realise the train had stopped. They'll be here before you know it."

Nessa smiled softly at her meager attempt to comfort her, despite knowing the scenario was absolutely riddiculous. For one, Harry hated Wizard's Chess, especially when he was playing against Ron so he would've been happy to call it quits. And two, they would have sat with Hermione on the train, had they actually boarded it, and Hermione had been the one to bring his absence to Nessa's attention. While the reasoning was faulty, she appreciated the effort.

Tori sighed and shook her head, before turning back to the Sorting and abandoning her attempt to show Nessa the cute boy sitting at the Ravenclaw table. She probably wouldn't have listened anyway.

By the time the Sorting was over, Harry had still not returned and Nessa took up searching the hall for him again instead of piling her plate high with the amazing food in front of her. Sighing, Tori filled ot for her and bumped her shoulder lightly against hers.

"Eat." she said softly.

Sighing in frustration, Nessa began eating the food placed before her, despite her stomach's protests. She just wasn't in the mood to eat right now. Not when her stomach was filled with so many butterflies thinking about what could've happened to Harry...  
Just as the thought struck her, the twins and Lee plopped down across from them, grinning widely.

"Your brother is our hero," Fred said.

" What are you talking about, Fred?" Nessa snapped, not in the mood for his antics.

Grinning, he handed over a copy of the Daily Prophet. At the top the title's bold lettering screamed out her and nearly made her gasp in shock. Tori choked on her pumpkin juice as she read, **FLYING FORD ANGLIA MYSTIFIES MUGGLES**. Nessa yanked the paper toward her and skimmed over the words hurriedly. Flying Ford Anglia seen flying over Norfolk...two Muggles convinced they saw a fly car flying over a post office...reported to muggle police...sox or seven Muggles sighted the car in all...

"That's awesome!" Tori exclaimed, laughing. "Why couldn't we have thought of that?"

Without thinking, Nessa hit her on the arm and glared.

"Maybe because its illegal. He could get in alot of trouble for this, Victoria Hastings, and you had better not encourage him." she snapped.

Tori paused in rubbing her off and her glare turned into a grimace.

"You are *never* allowed at the Burrow anymore. You sounded like Molly just now. Besides, nobody knows yet and its highly unlikely they'll expel him for this."

"Yea, Nessa, don't be such a prude." Lee said.

Nessa ignored them all. She didn't care what they thought. She was going to kill him.

**Ok guys that's it for this one. Hope you enjoyed it!**


	7. Chapter 6

First off, I'd like to apologise for the amount of asterisk in the last chapter. The app that I downloaded to my phone wouldn't allow me to do bold or italics unless I put a certain amount of asterisk around the word or phrase I needed changed. And, of course, Fanfiction just couldn't agree with the app, so instead all of you got to look at random symbols in the middle of nowhere *insert frustration*.

Second off, I would also like to apologise for any spelling mistakes. I have to type all of this on my phone and Fanfiction doesn't allow me to edit any of the mistakes that I make. I've been trying to catch all of the spelling and grammatical errors before I post it, but I'm not entirely sure how that has been working out.

And lastly, I apologise for the last few chapters being so short. In an attempt to remedy that, I have decided to give you guys another update even though I just updated. I'm hoping this chapter will be a TAD bit longer than my last few have managed to be.

I would also like to thank everyone who has reviewed/followed/favorited this story. Your feedback is welcome, constructive or otherwise, and really makes my day.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter.

-OoO-

Chapter 6

-OoO-

Harry continued down the corridor next to Ron as they made their way to the Gryffindor common room, grinning ridiculously with full stomachs. Harry had to admit that he had expected an even worse fate than the detention they had both been ordered to serve due to them flying Mr. Weasley's car to school. Though they had not been able to join the feast with the other students, they had enjoyed a dinner of sandwiches and pumpkin juice in Professor Snape's office in peace.

While they were both relieved and content as they came up to the Fat Lady's portrait, they realised quickly that their escapade had cost them the new password for Gryffindor Tower. How on Earth were they supposed to get inside if they weren't aware of the password?

Harry had just been about to turn towards Ron to ask him for any ideas, when the sound of Hermione's dashing feet made him sigh in relief.

"There you are! Where have you been? The most ridiculous rumors-someone said you had gotten expelled for crashing a flying car!"

"Well we haven't been expelled," Harry said, opting to avoid the topic of crashing the car.

"You mean you did fly here?" Hermione scolded, her voice taking on a tone almost as severe as McGonagall's.

"Skip the lecture," Ron snapped "and tell us the new password."

"Its wattlebird," Hermione said impatiently, "but that's not the point-"

Harry, however, was unable to hear the rest of her words due to the loud clapping that had begun once the portrait hole had opened. Arms reached forward to grab Harry and Ron and pulled them inside to face what looked like the entire Gryffindor House, leaving Hermione to scramble in after them.

Lee Jordan and the twins were among the first to praise them on their entrance, saying how inspired and jealous they were of them. Once or twice, the twins had hinted at wishing they had been allowed to go with them. Moving farther into the common room, they were congratulated by other inspired Gryffindors, some of which they had never met.

Ron was scarlet in the face, grinning embarrasedly, though obviously enjoying the attention. Being the youngest male of the Weasley family, he had a lot to live up to. Sometimes it was a little overwhelming to do things and get almost no attention for it because someone else had already accomplished the same. And it was even more rare for him to get praise from any one of his brothers, Fred and George in particular.

Harry was used to this sort of attention, however, and merely grinned a little as he waited for the excitement to pass. He did have to admit, though, that he was more than a little proud even though he knew it was wrong to feel that way. He could've been seriously hurt or, at the worst, expelled, but Fred and George were more than a little hard to impress and he had to admit ot felt good to know he had been one of the few to accomplish the feat.

Looking over the crowd of people who had surrounded him and Ron, he spotted a small group of people who did not seem at all happy by their stunt. Nessa sat in the back corner at a table with Percy, Hermione, and Tori, with her arms crossed across her chest and a glare set firmly on her face. Tori was the only one who looked amused, but seemed to be sitting next to Nessa in order to calm her anger, though Harry wasn't sure it was actually working. The only good thing about Nessa when she was angry was she was never one to start a scene, so he surmised that he was safe till at least the next morning. That would give him enough time to at least try and figure out an adequate answer to her questions that would not make him sound like an idiot and give her even more reason to shout at him. Percy, however, did not seem to have the same restraint.

Harry elbowed Ron on the side and nodded to a slowly approaching Percy trying to squeeze through the crowd in order to give them some sort of reprimand.

"Got to get to bed-bit tired," he said, helping Ron push through the crowd to the stairs on the other side of the common room to a spiral staircase leading up to the boys' dormitories.

Once shut inside their room, Ron grinned sheepishly over at Harry.

"I know I shouldn't have enjoyed that but..."

The dormitory door flew open to reveal the other second-year boys, Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnigan, and Neville Longbottom.

"Unbelievable!" Seamus said.

"Cool," said Dean.

"Amazing," Neville piped up in awe.

Harry couldn't help it. He grinned. That was until another voice popped into the conversation much to the boys' shock.

"Yes, quite amazing. Tell me, Harry, how much thought you actually put into this amazing escapade of yours." a sarcastic voice said from the doorway.

All five boys whirled around to face the fiery redhead standing in the doorway with a grinning Tori.

"Nessa! Bloody hell, what are you doing in here?! This is a BOYS dormitory!" Ron exclaimed in shock.

Tori rolled her eyes.

" Oh please, its not as though the five of you are doing anything scandalous up here." she said from her position against the doorjamb.

"What if we'd been getting ready for bed?!" Harry exclaimed.

Tori snorted. "Ok no offense but the five of you are TWELVE. There wouldn't really he much to see. Not that I want to see anything in the first place." she added hastily at Nessa's raised eyebrows.

Nessa snorted before giving Seamus, Dean, and Neville a stern look.

" Do you mind?" she said, eyes flickering from them to the doorway.

Taking the hint, the boys quickly began filing out of the room.

Harry gulped. This was not going to end well.

-OoO-

Nessa waited as patiently as she could for the the boys to file out of the second-year dormitory, despite knowing her patience was wearing thin.

She had hoped that she could just sit up in the common room and wait for Harry to arrive for bed, but the entire House had insisted on waiting for him to return and there was no way in hell she was going to cause a scene. And, as though her patience was not disintegrating, when Harry and Ron had finally arrived in the common room they had looked like they were more proud of themselves than ashamed. Though her worries of expulsion had been lifted, seeing as it was highly unlikely they would be smiling if they had been, she still couldn't believe her brother's audacity.

" Oh no," Tori's laughing voice said suddenly as her hand shot out suddenly barring the door from Ron's escape. "You're going to stay right here."

"You can't be serious!" Ron exclaimed in disbelief. Tori raised a brow in challenge. "She's not even my sister, Tori!"

"No, but I am and I do particularly enjoy causing you misery. Now sit down and shut up, Ronald." Tori said, the sweet smile on her face completely contradicting her words.

With one last glare and much grumbling, Ron took a seat on his bed and stared at Nessa in apprehension.

"Nessa, I can explain-" Harry began quickly noticingbthe flames that had sparked in his sister's eyes.

"Oh please do," she said, the anger in her voice making Harry hesitate.

"Ok well we tried to get through the platform right after Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, but the platform kind of...barred us from entering and-"

"What do you MEAN, the barrier stopped you from entering?" Nessa said, her anger disappearing slightly and turning to worry.

"Well when we tried to go through it, instead of running THROUGH the wall, we ran INTO it."

Nessa stared at her brother in shock and disbelief. The barrier had never barred Hogwarts students from entering the platform. Unsuspecting Muggles, sure. But never a student with magical ability.

"So let me get this straight," Nessa said, putting the pieces together. "Because the platform barred your entrance, you decided that flying Mr. Weasley's car to Hogwarts was a logical solution?"

Harry seemed to find relief in the fact that Nessa was wasn't yelling at him because his shoulders seemed to relax as though his body had been filled to the brim with tension and he nodded at her. Without thinking about it, Nessa moved forward and smacked him upside the head.

"Ow! What was that for?!" Harry yelled, rubbing the throbbing spot and glaring at her as Tori's obnoxious laughter filled the room.

"How on EARTH is that a logical explanation?!" she yelled.

"We got here safe, didn't we?!" he yelled back at her, his emerald eyes filling with the same flames that were already stoking Nessa's anger.

"Barely!" Nessa yelled. "You crashed into the Whomping Willow for Merlin's sake if rumors are to be taken literally! Besides, that is beside the point! Not only did you technically steal the Weasley's car, you nearly exposed the Wizarding World to muggles, which, might I add, could get you sent to Azkaban! On top of that, you most likely got Mr. Weasley in loads of trouble because it is illegal to tamper with muggle objects and give them magical properties with the intent to use said object! I'm sure you thought of that when you came up with this LOGICAL solution! Honestly, did it occur to either of you to wait until Mr. and Mrs. Weasley returned and have them take you to Hogwarts?"

Harry seemed to deflate with every word Nessa uttered, his anger morphing quickly to shock and then guilt immediately after as he stared at his sister in disbelief. Ron also seemed lost for words, his face so pale that the ridiculous amount of freckles adorning his features were stark against his pale skin. Tori was also silent, watching her best friend warily in case Nessa decided it would be a good idea to round on her as well.

Nessa pinched the bridge of her nose between two of her fingers and took deep breaths, eyes closed as she attempted to calm herself. Shaking her head and sighing, she opened her eyes.

"I need time to calm down, Harry, otherwise I'll kill the both of you." she muttered before turning on her heel and exiting the room, leaving two pale and guilty Gryffindors silent behind her.

-OoO-

That's it for this chapter guys. Hope you enjoyed!


	8. Chapter 7

**I'm sorry for the lateness of this chapter, but life seems to enjoy kicking my butt. But I have somewhat managed to get it under control and can now update. Both of my stories are now caught up and I don't have to worry about how far behind Broken is from Trial and Error. Also, school is finally almost over, but I won't be able to update from June 16-July 4 because I will be taking a trip to England, France, and Italy. I am beyond excited for that, but I will not be able to update for those two and a half weeks. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter and review!**

**-oOo-**

**Chapter Seven**

Upon waking, Nessa realised quickly that she would rather not start the day. The lingering anger she still harbored from last night was beginning to put her in a bad mood. She had assumed that getting some sleep would help calm her nerves, but it seemed that sleep had an opposite effect on her. The anger seemed to only intensify during her sleep ad she groaned in annoyance. Nessa had never been a morning person and adding this emotion on top of it seemed like a cruel joke.

Climbing out of bed, she grabbed her school uniform and made her way to the third year girls' lavatory for a shower. The hot water was soothing and ,since it was rather early, none of the other girls were up and about trying to search for school robes and fighting over the bathroom, providing Nessa with absolutely no need to rush. Dressing in the school uniform and drying her auburn hair, she checked her appearance in the mirror. She grimaced at the sight of the uniform. Though it was not an awful uniform to force children to wear during the week she had never enjoyed wearing skirts and she could never get her red and gold tie to stay straight. With a huff, she admitted that she would have to rely on Tori once again to fix it for her.

She made her way back into the girls' dormitory and decided to read a book for the next hour and a half it would take Tori to get ready for breakfast. Unlike Nessa, Tori always had to do her hair and wear makeup after her daily shower. Nessa honestly didn't see why she bothered with any of it. Tori's hair was naturally curly and she looked pretty without the minimal amount of makeup she put on every morning to begin with. She hardly needed to do anything to herself to look presentable. Tori, however, claimed that it made her feel better about herself so Nessa refrained from making any comments.

Tori exited the lavatory just as the other girls were beginning to wake and argue over who got the bathroom first. Tori rolled her eyes as she straightened Nessa's tie before they made their way down to breakfast. Scanning the hall for someone to sit with, Nessa spotted Harry, Ron, and Hermione sitting on one end of the table. She felt a sudden burst of anger she didn't understand and immediately shut down the idea of sitting with her brother for the morning. While they were both incredibly close, they were also hot-headed and breakfast would more than likely be ruined by Nessa's awful mood. Tori pointed towards the Weasley twins and their friend Lee Jordan in a questioning way, obviously guessing at Nessa's thoughts. Nessa sighed and nodded before following Tori over to sit with the boys.

"Good morning," Fred greeted them with a huge grin as he began to dig into his eggs.

Nessa answered with a smile and grabbed for a piece of buttered toast and a glass of orange juice. She nibbled on the corners of her toast as the others chatted amicably with one another, looking around the Great Hall. The hall had always been beautiful, especially in the mornings. There was no need for candles with the morning sun shining through the big, open windows and the enchanted ceiling was lit with the sunlight and pretty blue color of the sky outside. Nessa sometimes woke earlier than the other students just so she could come down to the Great Hall and watch the ceiling change from orange to pink to blue as the sun began to rise in the morning.

Breakfast was also the only hour that the Great Hall was not alive with loud talk and chatter. Most students were struggling to fully wake up due to the early hour and that gave Nessa the opportunity to sit in silence next to her friends and not be expected to carry on a conversation. Being the first day of term, most of the students were quieter than usual as they all tried to readjust to the early schedule after summer break.

The quiet was broken by a loud rushing noise above them as the morning post arrived. Other students began to look eagerly for their own owl, hoping to receive the items they had left behind at home or get sweets from their parents. Nessa didn't bother looking up to see if she had gotten any mail, but the others did.

"Isn't that Errol?" Tori asked, pointing towards the ceiling.

Nessa looked up from her breakfast just as the large barn owl crashed into Hermione's milk, spraying everyone in the vicinity with milk and feathers.

Fred and George grimaced.

"I told Mum we needed to get a new owl." George muttered before turning back to his breakfast.

Nessa bit her lip to keep from laughing before turning back to face the others, none of them noticing the bright red envelope the owl was carrying.

"Do you suppose Lockhart is going to be a decent teacher this year?" George asked, looking up at the staff table at the arrogant professor.

Fred and Tori snorted in unison.

"I highly doubt it." Tori said, watching Lockhart smile indulgently at a group of staring first years. "He doesn't exactly look like the kind of person who wants to get his hands dirty, does he?"

Nessa opened her mouth to respond when a sudden roar of sound filled the Great Hall, causing her and several other students to scream in surprise.

"Bloody hell!" Lee Jordan exclaimed, spilling his pumpkin juice down the front of his robes.

"-STEALING THE CAR, I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY'D EXPELLED YOU, YOU WAIT TILL I GET HOLD OF YOU, I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK ABOUT WHAT YOUR FATHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW IT WAS GONE-"

Fred and George began to snicker when they realised who had received the Howler. Mrs. Weasley's voice seemed to be ten times louder, probably amplified by the red letter that seemed to be yelling at Ron, who had sunk down so far in his seat Nessa was only able to see his crimson forehead.

"-LETTER FROM DUMBLEDORE LAST NIGHT, I THOUGHT YOUR FATHER WOULD DIE OF SHAME, WE DIDN'T BRING YOU UP TO BEHAVE LIKE THIS, YOU AND HARRY COULD BOTH HAVE DIED-ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED-YOUR FATHER'S FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK, ITS ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT AND IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WE'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT BACK HOME!"

The envelope in Ron's hands burst into flames and curled into ashes as a ringing silence filled the Great Hall. Harry and Ron stared at the table in shock for several seconds before laughter broke out through the Great Hall.

"Best breakfast ever." Lee said with a grin, completely forgetting his spilt pumpkin juice.

"Harry looks like he's about to die of guilt." Tori said pointedly to Nessa, who looked over at the ashen face of her brother.

She knew it was wrong to feel smug that Harry had gotten his due in the middle of the packed Great Hall, but somehow she felt it was the only way to get Harry and Ron to realise what they had done was something to be ashamed of instead of proud.

"Good," she said seriously. "He ought to be guilty. After everything Mr. and Mrs. Weasley did for us, getting them into trouble with the Ministry was an awful way to repay them."

"Don't you think your being a tad harsh, Ness?" George said, raising an eyebrow. "Its not as though he intended to get anyone in trouble."

Nessa shook her head. "If you and Fred played a prank that had injured its victim would it make any difference that you hadn't _intended_ to hurt them?"

"Well, no, but-"

Nessa raised her eyebrows and George sighed in defeat. She did have a point, even if it did sort of ruin the fun. Fred put an arm around her shoulder and grinned down at her.

"You are a bit of a spoil sport, darling." he said.

"Sorry," Nessa muttered. "I'm just on edge."

Fred grinned and poked her in the side, eliciting a squeal from her at the tickling sensation it caused. Fred dodged the hand she swung at him in response.

"That was rude." he said, the grin on his face contradicting the seriousness in his words.

She rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him in response.

"All right, you two, quit flirting." Lee said.

Nessa could feel her face heating and knew, beyond any doubt, that she was blushing a bright crimson.

"I-I wasn't _flirting_ with Fred." she stuttered.

"I was flirting with you, darling." Fred said with a wink.

"That's because you're always flirting, Fred." Tori snapped, stabbing her pancakes violently with her fork.

Nessa had never seen Fred react so quickly to someone's words before. The usually amicable Fred turned toward her with a glare, his smile disappearing.

"What in the bloody hell is that supposed to mean?" he snapped.

Tori rolled her eyes. "Name one girl in this school you haven't all ready flirted with."

"Moaning Myrtle," George said with a grin.

Fred groaned. "You are not helping right now, George." he said before turning back to Tori. "Why are you so upset about it anyways? You aren't jealous are you?"

Nessa watched Tori's reaction to his words curiously. Tori snorted derisively.

"Why would I be jealous, you arrogant-"

"I don't think I understand what's happening right now." Lee said, looking towards George, who rolled his eyes.

"Get used to it, mate," he said ignoring the still arguing couple. "It's probably the sexual tension."

"We don't have sexual tension, George!" Fred and Tori snapped in unison, eliciting a giggle out of Nessa.

George winked at her just as McGonagall reached them with their timetables. Nessa was grateful for the distraction since she had a feeling George would find her blush amusing. Accepting her timetable with a polite smile, she looked down at her new schedule and grinned.

"Ugh!" Tori groaned loudly. "Could this day possibly get any worse?"

Fred leaned over her shoulder to see what was wrong and grimaced in sympathy.

"Double Potions with the Slytherins next," he said, shaking his head at her bad luck. "Sorry, love."

Tori sighed in defeat and rested her head on Fred's shoulder. Fred wrapped an arm around her waist and held her timetable in front of him.

"Defense with Lockhart right after...Transfiguration with McGonagall-"

Tori hit him lightly in the stomach. "Please quit reading, Fred."

Fred rubbed her back soothingly. "It'll be okay, love. Maybe Snape's in a good mood today."

"Don't be daft, Fred. You know he won't be."

Nessa rolled her eyes. "You're both being ridiculous. Snape isn't going to kill you and you havn't even had a class with Lockhart yet. What if he's the best Defense teacher we've ever had?"

They all turned to stare at her in disbelief. She sighed.

"Okay, probably not." she conceded. "My point is you're being melodramatic. Now come on or we're going to be late." she said, grabbing onto Tori's arm and pulling her out of her seat and away from Fred.

"Oh Merlin, help me, Fred." she said, desperately as Nessa pulled her out of the Great Hall, much to his amusement.

Lee stared at Fred in curiosity before turning to George.

"Seriously, George, what just happened?"

"Sexual tension in the making, mate."

-oOo-

Tori and Nessa sat in the Potions classroom, both waiting impatiently for Professor Snape to arrive. Their impatience, however, stemmed from two completely different reasons.

Nessa was eager to start class, just as she was every year. Potions had been her favorite class from the very beginning of her first year when she had walked into the dimly lit Potions lab and taken a seat near the back. Despite having heard that Professor Snape was biased towards Slytherin, she found his passion for the class made it even more enjoyable.

Tori, on the other hand, was impatient to get this class over with. Professor Snape was even more loathsome then the Slytherins tended to be and, unlike Nessa, she had absolutely no knack for potions. She was more likely to burn he lab down than make a successful potion, one of the many reasons Snape was not fond of her. The quicker she got this class over with, the happier she was going to be.

Professor Snape swept into the classroom just as the bell rang, his black robes billowing behind him. Tori grimaced when he turned to face the class; he was already in a snarky mood.

His eyes swept over the class leisurely as he examined the kids he would have to teach this year. His look was more than a bit derisive as he looked over the Gryffindor side of the classroom. Until he came to rest on Nessa. Tori watched as the usual fondness flashed quickly through his eyes before he shuttered his expression and moved on. Tori found it strange that Nessa was the only Gryffindor Snape actually seemed to like. It had been like that since the second he had set eyes on her, and Tori wondered what it was about Nessa that made her different. Before she could contemplate any further, Snape began the class with his usual insulting introduction.

"Most of you will be unable to keep up with this year's course work. While it is quite surprising that some of you managed to pass your end of year exams and make it into third-year Potions-" he sent a fleeting glance to Tori, who immediately glared in response. "-I will not go easy on you. Is that clear?"

His speech was met with silence, as per usual. Snape turned to the blackboard and began writing the name of a Potion on its surface.

"Can anyone tell me the difference between a Confusing Draught and a Befuddlement Draught?" Snape said, his voice quiet yet authoritative.

Nessa's hand was the first in the air, and, as usual, Snape nodded his head for her to answer.

"A Confusing Draught causes confusion in the drinker. A Befuddling Draught is used to make the drinker reckless and cruel."

"Correct, Miss Potter. One point for Gryffindor." Snape said, ignoring the collective look of shock on the Slytherins' faces. "I want a two foot essay about the differences between the two potions and their properties due at the beginning of class tomorrow."

Tori held back a groan before taking out her Potions book and beginning her essay. It was a tortuous sitting in class and flipping between her book and her essay, which was barely started. To make matters worse, Snape was walking around the classroom and reading essays, making disapproving noises and shaking his head overtime he passed her table. It took a considerable amount of self-restraint for Tori not to turn around and snap at him in retaliation.

She was glad when the class finally ended and her and Nessa could pack up their books and make their way towards the Defense classroom.

"Why is it," Tori asked Nessa as they made their way through the corridor. "that Snape is so...friendly with you?"

Nessa gave her a look. "I'm no different than the rest of you, Tori. He was probably just in a good mood today. Besides, he's never been as bad as you lot claim he is."

Tori gave her a look full of disbelief. Snape was, for some reason unknown to the rest of their year, fond of Vanessa Potter and she couldn't believe Nessa didn't recognise the way he treated her compared to the rest of them. Tori made to say something, but Lockhart swept into the room and took their attention before she could say a word.

-oOo-

**Yes, I know the ending for this chapter is beyond awful, but this chapter was not planned beforehand, so I was sort of winging it.**

**Anyways, can anyone guess why Snape is fond of Nessa? It will have something to do with the plot later on in the series, though it won't show up until OotP. Brownie points for anyone who can guess it right.**


	9. Chapter 8

**Well I'm back from Europe and ready to update again even though its only been a week. Lets see...there were three people who guessed correctly as to why Snape likes Nessa so much. Of course it isn't really all that hard. You do, however, get brownie points ;)(and maybe a sneak peek at the next chapter. Of course only if you want it.). On a side note, I seem to have gotten a horrible case of Author's Block in my other story and there is no telling when that is going to lift but hopefully the same does not happen for this one. Anyways, hope you enjoy!**

**Chapter 8**

**-oOo-**

The next few days passed in a blur for Nessa. The monotonous routine of going to classes every morning became less tiring and Nessa found that the beginning of the school year had actually started off quite well. She'd spent time with some of the friends she had missed over the summer and had even managed to sort things out with Harry, who had managed to stay out of trouble since the car incident, which, to Nessa's dismay, was still quite popular with the other students.

Of course, all good things had to have some form of bad to go with it and Nessa found that Lockhart provided enough annoyance to be the bad in this scenario. Though she hadn't been expecting him to be all that _great_ of a teacher, she had expected to learn something in his DADA classes. He did have a whole series of books written about his adventures, after all. But she had supposed wrong on that front because the first thing they had learned when they'd stepped into his classroom was anything and everything that had to do with Lockhart, much to Nessa's chagrin. Curious as she had been by the lack of curriculum Lockhart had provided them with, she'd taken it upon herself to read every single one of his books, much to Tori's amusement and subsequent teasing. She ignored her best friend as much as possible and found, with no amount of surprise, that somehow Lockhart had managed to make his books include almost everything there was to know about himself. As she sat in his class every Monday and Wednesday and Friday, she found herself idly wondering if any of his accomplishments were true at all.

While Lockhart seemed to be quite irritating, she found it easy to ignore him considering she only spent three days with him a week and instead found herself using all of her free time either doing homework or spending time with Harry and Tori.

That Friday evening was no different, despite the amount of homework that she had gotten in Potions and Transfiguration earlier that day. She didn't really have much time to regret the mounting pile that she suspected would only continue to grow the longer she put it off as she and her two closest companions made their way, joking and laughing, toward the lake with a pile of food they had nicked from the Gryffindor table on their way here.

Tori plopped down on the shore with the sandwiches before laying back in the sand with a sigh, slipping off her flats and letting her bare feet rest in the water.

"I find this quite relaxing to be honest." she stated without preamble as Nessa took a seat next to her and unwrapped the sandwiches from their individual napkins and handed her the turkey and cheese.

"It is kind of soothing, I suppose." Nessa stated as she took a look at her surroundings.

Though this wasn't the first time the group of three had had dinner out by the lake, Nessa found that it was still just as enchanting as it had been the first day she'd floated across it on her boat ride to the castle in her first year. The sand was soft under her feet, almost white in color and contrasted starkly with the glossy black color of the water, which reflected the three of them as they silently ate their dinner. The water was motionless, except for where Tori was currently skimming her toes creating ripples on its surface and the open space surrounding the lake gave them a wide view of the castle grounds and the forest that surrounded it. The sky above them was beginning to change from blue to pink to orange as the sun began to set in the distance and Nessa was happy that they had chosen that particular night to have dinner together.

"So, Harry," Nessa said, dusting her hands of the sandwich crumbs that lingered there from her dinner and turning to face her brother, who handed her a glass of water. She gave a nod of thanks before continuing. "Lockhart been giving you any trouble?"

"Not really. I've been avoiding him like the plague though so he hasn't really had the chance, in all honesty. Colin-you know Colin Creevey, right?" Nessa nodded, remembering the little first year from his excitement at meeting Harry. "Right, well, he's been following me around to all my classes just so I'll say hello to him everyday."

Tori laughed uproarisly and sat up to stare at Harry in amusement. "You mean to tell me that you're being stalked by a midget first year? Merlin, that's priceless." she said, laughing all the harder when Nessa hit her on the arm.

"Quit calling the first years midgets, Tori. Its rude." she snapped. "And its not 'priceless', its beyond creepy in my opinion."

"You're just offended because half of them are taller than you are." Tori stated with a smirk that only grew when Harry choked on his pumpkin juice and tried to hold back his laughter.

"I am not shorter than they are!"

"Are too." Tori said in a sing song voice.

"Am not!"

"Are too."

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

Harry rolled his eyes, lips still twitching at their antics, and unwrapped the cookies he'd brought with them and handed them each a chocolate chip, effectively shutting them up, though they still glowered at one another.

"You two are the strangest pair of friends I've ever seen in my life." he stated, biting into his own cookie and looking out across the lake as the two of them rolled their eyes in unison.

"How about you just eat your cookie and shut up, Potter?" Tori said. "Your opinion on our sanity is useless."

Harry rolled his eyes. "That's promising. And here I thought I was safe sitting out here by myself with you two."

"Never underestimate me, Harry." Tori said, cheerily, stuffing the last bit of cookie in her mouth and dusting off her hands. "One minute I could be perfectly friendly and the next you'll be lying dead in the sand."

Nessa choked on the last remnants of her water as Harry rolled his eyes.

"Why I talk to either of you is something I still have been unable to figure out." he muttered, holding out a hand to his still laughing sister and pulling her to her feet.

Nessa laughed again and wrapped an arm around his waist just as Tori wrapped hers around his shoulders.

"Lets face it, Harry," Tori stated with a grin. "You just can't help but find us irresistibly funny."

"I don't suppose I find you to be modest as well." he said with sarcasm.

"Well, I suppose, but lets be honest here." Nessa said with a grin to match her best friend's. "You just can't help but love us."

"I guess that's true." he said, a grin spreading across his face. "Then again, you can't really choose your family now can you?"

"Oh, you prat." Tori said laughingly as Nessa gasped in mock outrage and took a swing at his head.

Harry ducked and took off running, his laughter echoing behind him as he made his way towards the castle. The girls shared a look and a grin before they took off after him.

-oOo-

Nessa made her way down to the Quidditch Pitch early the next morning in search of her best friend, grumbling and muttering to herself as she went.

She was going to kill Wood for this nonsense. While she could understand his desire to win the Cup this year, especially considering how bad they'd lost last year, she didn't think that making his team wake up at the crack of dawn was going to change much of anything. And it certainly wasn't going to put Tori in much of a good mood this morning, which she suspected was going to hinder her playing abilities. Whether she purposely played poorly to irritate the Quidditch obsessed captain or played poorly because of the lack of sleep was entirely up to Tori to decide and Nessa found herself hoping that her best friend decided on the former.

The thoughts circulating through her head made Nessa realise that she probably wasn't in much of a mood to be anywhere near the Quidditch captain who had officially ruined her morning, but she was far from caring about what the rational thing to do was at the moment.

She'd had to attend breakfast with the gossipy girls from her dorm that morning since Tori had been missing and listening to their high pitched giggles the very first second she'd woken up had been enough to spark the interest of banging her head through the breakfast table. Or theirs, she wasn't really all that picky. To top that all off, she had ran into Lockhart on her way out of the Great Hall and had gotten stuck trying to convince him she hadn't actually ran into him on purpose and therefore did not want an autograph. Of course, the git hadn't listened all that much and Nessa had gotten an autograph anyway. An autograph she had promptly torn to pieces and thrown away the moment his back was turned. And now here she was stomping through the grass and the mud as she made her way towards the pitch, rational thoughts stomped into the ground, grumbling and muttering about all of the ways she was going to murder the Quidditch captain.

Huffing melodramatically, she stomped up the stairs and into the stands on the Gryffindor end of the Pitch. She was more than a little surprised to come face to face with Ron and Hermione, who were speaking quietly huddled around a generous stack of toast and marmalade. They looked up at her as she came to a stop at the top of the stairs and Hermione offered her a small smile.

"Good morning." she said, her tone friendly. Nessa found Hermione's good mood to be quite a relief considering the foul mood she'd taken with her and Tori when she'd realised they weren't on friendly terms with Lockhart. She didn't need any other problems to arise this morning.

"Morning," she said, trying to keep the frustration out of her tone, but wasn't very successful.

Hermione, however, seemed to understand. "Wood does seem to have lost his mind."

Nessa snorted and plopped down on the seat next to Ron. "That, Hermione, is the understatement of the year."

"I think they're nearly done by now." She said conversationally, offering Nessa a piece of toast that she denied with a smile of thanks. "We got out here at around seven and they weren't on the field, so I imagine there meeting in the locker room before heading back to the castle."

"Its half past!" Nessa said incredulously, looking at her watch.

"Wood's probably giving them a pep talk for this year," Ron said through a mouthful of toast. "You know, the usual we need to win the Cup or give up our lives for the sake of Quidditch."

Nessa laughed, though she imagined that wasn't much of an exaggeration on Ron's part. When it came to Quidditch, Wood was a bit of a fanatic. The boy lived and breathed for Quidditch and she wasn't at all surprised when she saw the team walk out of the changing rooms, still in their robes with brooms over their shoulders. Hermione and Ron, however, were more surprised than she was.

"Aren't you finished yet?" Ron called out to Harry, his tone disbelieving.

"Haven't even started," Harry answered, looking jealously at the toast and marmalade the three of them were sitting around. "Wood's been teaching us new moves."

"Why does that not surprise me?" Nessa muttered with a huff as Harry mounted his broom and kicked off into the air.

Tori and the twins were quick to follow, the four of them beginning to fly laps around the stadium. Nessa rolled her eyes when she realised they were racing. The four of them were the most competitive flyers-other than Oliver, that is-that she had ever met in her entire life. They couldn't even get on a broom without having some sort of competition.

She was pulled out of her thoughts by a strange and continuous clicking noise from behind her. Whipping around in confusion, she realised Colin Creevey was also sat in the stands, his camera held aloft as he hurried to take as many pictures of Harry and the team as possible.

"You've got to be joking," Nessa muttered, turning to Hermione in disbelief. "How did he even know Harry was out here?"

Hermione shrugged. "He was here when we arrived. I suspect he followed the rest of the team out and took a seat in the stands to have a good look."

"Look this way, Harry! This way!" he called across the stadium in a shrill voice.

"Bit obsessed don't you think?" she asked Harry's two closest friends.

"That's putting it lightly." Ron said with a snort. "Harry just better hope Colin doesn't meet Ginny. Then he'll have even bigger problems."

Nessa coughed to conceal her laugh as Hermione glared at him before scolding him for talking about his sister that way.

"Oh bloody hell," Ron muttered, standing up and leaning over the stands. "You've got to be joking."

"Ronald, what on Earth are you-" Hermione stopped speaking as she caught sight of the Slytherin Quidditch team making their way through the stadium.

"Great," Nessa said sarcastically as she made her way towards the stairs that led down to the field. "Just what I need to improve my already awful day."

When the three of them arrived on the field the two teams stood facing off, Wood practically spitting with rage as the other members of the team glowered behind him.

"What's happening? Why aren't you playing?" Ron said as they reached the others. He came to a stop when he saw Malfoy dressed in the Slytherin Quidditch robes and spoke with disgust. "And what's he doing here?"

"I'm the new Slytherin Seeker, Weasley." Malfoy said smugly. "Everyone's just been admiring the brooms my father's bought our team."

Ron gaped, open-mouthed, at the seven Nimbus 2001's that the Slytherin team were brandishing with pride.

"Good, aren't they?" Malfoy said smoothly. "But perhaps the Gryffindor team will be able to raise some gold and get new brooms, too. You could raffle off those Cleansweep Fives," he continued with a sneer in the direction of Tori and the twins, who only continued to glower at him. "I suspect a museum would bid for them."

The Slytherin team roared with laughter.

"At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in," Hermione said sharply. "They got in on pure talent."

The smug look on Malfoy's face flickered briefly before his usual sneer took its place on his face.

"No one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood." The words were spat with such vile distaste that Nessa knew what he'd said had been more than a passing insult, though she had never heard the word before. The uproar that followed only confirmed her suspicions.

Fred and George lunged for Malfoy, who was immediately blocked by Flint, Tori yelled "How dare you!", and Ron plunged his hand into his robes, pulled out his wand yelling, "You'll pay for that one, Malfoy!", and pointed it furiously under Flint's arm at Malfoy's face.

A loud bang echoed through the stadium and a jet of green light shot out the wrong end of Ron's wand, hitting him in the stomach and sending him propelling

backward onto the grass.

"Ron! Ron, are you alright!" Hermione squealed.

Ron opened his mouth to reply but no words came out. Instead he gave an almighty belch and several slugs dribbled out of his mouth and onto his lap.

The Slytherin team was paralyzed with laughter. Flint was doubled up, holding onto his new broomstick for support. Malfoy was on all fours, banging the ground with his fist. The Gryffindors were gathered around Ron, who kept belching large, glistening slugs. Nobody seemed to want to touch him.

"We'd better get him to Hagrid's, it's nearest." Harry said to Hermione, who nodded bravely, and the pair of them lifted Ron up by the arms.

The two teams watched the three of them hurry across the field in their attempts to reach Hagrid's hut as Ron continuously threw up slugs.

"I hope you're proud of yourself, you foul loathsome little git." Nessa snapped at a still laughing Malfoy.

The boy stopped laughing long enough to give her the same sneer of disgust he had recently given Hermione.

"You're no better, Potter." he snapped, eyeing her up and down. "I do believe your mother was a Mudblood. You're dirty by association."

This time it was Tori who lunged for him. She never made it to Malfoy, however. Not before Nessa slapped him hard across the face, anyways. A shocked Fred caught Tori by the waist and held tight, despite the fact that she was so shocked by Nessa's actions that she was no longer putting up any resistance.

"Merlin's pants," George breathed, eyeing Nessa with a mix of apprehension and awe.

No one was more surprised than Nessa, however. She'd never been one for violence and her anger was usually kept in check, but she'd been unable to stop herself from reacting. Though she didn't know what the word meant, she knew it was meant to be insulting and while Harry remembered nothing about their parents, Nessa had just turned three when they'd died. Her memories were not vast, but the brief ones she had retained, she cherished. So, without even thinking about it, she'd slapped him.

Now, as she stood there staring at him in shock, she felt a bit of guilt rise in her stomach, even though she knew he didn't deserve it. With no grip on her anger, she'd erupted without thinking and slapped him in the face before she could stop herself. It had been more of an impulse, almost as though she'd been a puppet and someone else was pulling the strings. Now as she stood before him, watching his expression turn from surprised to angry, she felt two emotions begin to bubble up inside her: fear and an even larger bout of guilt.

The fear was easily explained; she wasn't entirely sure she was ready to see his reaction. She had a feeling that it was not going to be any more rational than her response to his insult about her mother. The guilt, however, was a more complex emotion, one that was harder to explain and even harder to understand. While one could say he had more than deserved what he'd gotten, it made her feel as if she was sinking to his level, lowering herself to hurt other people because they had done the same to her. The slap hadn't been intentional and she couldn't say that she completely regretted the action, but she was slightly guilty for her response.

She stepped away from him, the shock of her actions still coursing through her and ran into a still completely bewildered George. He rested his hands on her waist to stop her from toppling over and cleared his throat, somehow understanding that she was ashamed of her actions.

"All right, you lot, nothing to see here." he said, giving her a nudge forward and urging her to walk back to the castle. "No point standing here."

Not even Oliver put up a protest as they followed George and Nessa out of the stadium. Nessa looked down at her feet the entire time they walked, silent as George walked beside her.

"Thanks, George," she murmured quietly, still refusing to meet his eyes as they lagged behind the rest of the team.

He smiled softly down at her, despite the fact that she wasn't looking at him and threw an arm around her shoulders.

"No problem, love," he said before his face split into a grin. "I know you aren't proud of it, but I still think that was brilliant."

Nessa finally looked up at him and couldn't help but smile when she caught sight of his grin. She didn't say a word in response and instead wrapped both of her arms around his waist and continued to walk up to the castle in silence.

-oOo-

**So that's it for this one, guys. I can't say that I'm incredibly happy with it because I had a severe case of Author's Block and found it incredibly difficult to begin this chapter. The second half of the chapter was relatively easy to write though so maybe I just need to get back into writing again. Anyways, feedback is inspiration and inspiration makes me happy. Hope you enjoyed!**


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